Piemur1's Third Layer Original
by lava84flow
Summary: This is pretty much Piemur1's original story the way that he wrote it. He said that I could work on continuing it since he didn't think that he could finish it. This one is here so that you can see the changes that I've made if you would like to.


Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 1 Starting out

"Ranma! Wait up, you jerk!" Akane yelled.

"What now?" Ranma replied from his post on the fence.

"And where do you think you're going? This isn't the way home!"

"Aww c'mon now Akane, I'm just goin to the mall to do some shopping." he continued walking.

"Humph! I'll bet you're just saying that so you can go flirt with your cute fiancee! Fine! see if I care!" Akane turned and began walking away.

"Now Akane! It ain't like that! Aww geez! Ya never listen to what I'm sayin, don't you? You're so uncute!"

Akane stopped, her aura flaring up, and she turned back to him. "Oh yeah? So how come you JUST HAPPEN to be walking towards Okonomiyaki Ucchan's then?"

"I SAID I'm headin to the mall! It's THAT way!" he pointed in a direction, "Ucchan's place is THAT way!" he pointed in a direction slightly to the left, "This street heads THIS way, and then I'm gonna head THAT way, then THAT way, then I'll be at the MALL! Don't you ever understand the meaning of coincidence" Each gesture getting more fierce with each word and ended with him spreading his arms out to each side. "Geez! Get a grip Akane! It ain't like I'm cheatin on ya or nuthin! Besides, dontcha hate my guts or sumthin? So why do you care what I'm doin?"

Yes, it was the dreaded Saotome Anything-Goes Foot-in-Mouth Technique.

"Ranma no BAKA!" Akane pulled out her mallet and gave him a whallop meant to send him to the moon.

However, Ranma decided he couldn't afford the time it would take to get back and pulled out a quick little trick from Taro he learned. He pulled out some pantyhose he had confiscated from Happosai and snagged the top of the telephone pole just as he passed by it. He used the rebound to slow his ascension to the heavens and managed to get himself under control. She had run off to go home to sulk, but she was just passing under his pole. He remembered a little trick from an American comic he once saw and decided to have a bit of fun with Akane. He slid down the pantyhose upside down ala Spiderman and poked her back. "Hey, that wasn't very nice, there Akane, I TOLD you I'm just heading to the mall for this new hobby of mine."

She spun around and gave him a hearty smack on the cheek. Her hand throbbing (and Ranma's face for that matter), she cried out angrily, "Don't scare me like that! You should have been gone for an hour!" then she noticed what he was hanging on, "YOU PERVERT! And you're getting more like Happosai every day!"

Ranma let go and flipped over to land on his feet, "No, I was gonna to return these to their rightful owners which the old freak stole, but I had to use it so I wouldn't take an hour to get to the store! It's gonna close soon and it'll take a while to get there. The place I'm going to go to is in central Tokyo. Yeah, sorry for lyin to ya like that Akane, but I really am going shopping. As for the pantyhose, well, you remember Taro, right? And now it's ruined because of you!"

Akane looked at it for a moment, and indeed it was quite stretched. "Oh..."

"Anyway, the subway's that way also, so that's where I'm heading. Now if you will excuse me, I've got a long way to go. Tell Kasumi that I'm not going to have dinner."

Suddenly, Akane got angry. "Oh I'll bet you heard somehow that I was going to cook tonight since Kasumi's going out, is that it?"

"Really? Well, sorry, but I didn't know that." Ranma was just about to say 'And it's a good thing I'm going to be late then, isn't it?' when he had a quick image. It was a Chibi-Ranma saying that, then a Chibi-Akane turning blood-red, then Chibi-Akane smashing Chibi-Ranma out to Pluto. He decided not to comment any further. He was going to be really late as it was. Maybe he'd have to camp out for the night. He wished he had his camping gear. "Well, anyway, I REALLY gotta get going. It will probably take me the whole night to get back, and since it's not a school day tomorrow, I'll probably be back later tomorrow. Sorry Akane, about me not being there to eat your...pause...food, but I really didn't know you were cooking today. Honest! And when have I ever WANTED to not eat Kasumi's cooking?"

He mentally congratulated himself for getting himself out of that sticky situation. Anything-Goes prevent-Foot-in-Mouth Technique. He just made it up on the spot, and surprisingly, he found that it was easier to think about thinking before talking in martial arts terms. Find what the opponent WANTS to hear and say it without offending them, but winning the battle nonetheless. It sure beat the older technique, and a lot less painful for all concerned...mainly himself. He'd have to write down this technique; it was quite effective.

"O-okay, well good night then. Hope you don't catch anything so you could spread it to me!" Yeah, she still had to argue, but Ranma found it had the slightest touch of caring in her tone. Yes, the technique is a success. She turned huffily, but Ranma could tell it was faked.

"Cya around Akane!" He waved and turned to go on towards the subway.

'Now what is Ranma going to get me?' Akane absentmindedly wondered as she continued on home. She gave a mental giggle. 'Is he finally getting me an engagement ring by himself?'

After a few minutes, another thought came through 'I wonder how he managed to keep the money from Nabiki?'

Ranma came off the subway in central Tokyo and went outside. She mentally cursed/thanked whoever decided to throw out their wash through their window. Cursed because she hated being drenched so unexpectedly. Thanked because it made what she wanted to do a whole lot easier. It would be much less embarassing this way.

Earlier, he had watched a tournament as he was passing the living room, and wondered how there could be such martial artists around that he had never seen before. After watching for a while, he noticed the camera constantly switching to some younger person, usually a girl, with some strange headset that covered their eyes with a pink-colored visor. Wondering what was up with it, he asked Kasumi what that was.

She told him it was Angelic Layer and it was beginning to catch into a terrific craze throughout Japan. Wondering what the heck was Angelic Layer, Ranma found that the fighters were actually miniature dolls that the person with the visor was controlling with their mind. At first he was going to dismiss it and watch their fighting styles when he heard mention of a great prize. It was a way to get out of debt to Nabiki! He thought that if anyone could fight, whether it be in a full out bout or a miniature battle, he would fight too and win. Of that, there was no doubt. It basically all came down to the basic instincts and fighting forms.

He continued to watch, and saw the girl Suzuhara Misaki was winning with excellent technique. There was a girl who could fight. Although she looked pretty scrawny and wore an outfit that made fighting in a real hassle, he thought that she must also be an excellent fighter in real life as well. The screen said that she was last year's champion of all Japan with only 1 loss in the first local tournament. It also mentioned it was her first time ever playing Angelic Layer. Now that was impressive. If she could get into a game like that and win so constantly, she must have been training for quite some time. He wondered briefly if she was training in real life, or training on the Layer with her doll.

When the battle ended, he began to reevaluate his opinions of her. Getting off the egg-like seat, she clumsily fell off and landed on her face. When the stadium reporter came to her, she spoke shyly and blushed a lot. He also noticed she had no muscle to speak of at all. She, basically, was a wimp! But how did she do so well in the game? That fighting style was basically on par with Anything Goes! Quite flashy, and took to the air quite a lot. But there were small holes in her defence, but her speed, agility, and quick reaction time made up quite a bit for it. When she fought, she concentrated with all her might and was a really quick thinker. The style was also very rough. It wasn't from any direct school of martial arts that he could tell. Perhaps it was a secretive family style such as his? Whatever it was, it was good, and effective on the Layer.

Ranma may never admit it out loud, but he knew that he used the same skills whenever he fought. He could evaluate a situation instantly, looking for holes, advantages, and counter-moves several steps before an opponent even knew what was happening. He noticed that at times, his girl-form was built to better handle that kind of thinking. She could do things that were much more difficult to do when he was a guy. But from that, she couldn't do as much damage unless she caught her opponent unprepared and in a very vulnerable spot. He wondered then, could he possibly do the same? Could he, Ranma Saotome, fight as effectivly without using his physical body in these fights? It had something to do with those headsets, and seemed that willpower was a major factor. That must mean Misaki also had a powerful will. Smarts, quick reactions, will, strategy, a self-made martial art, a truely powerful fighting spirit? This was a prodigy. If his idiot of a father ever wanted to make another powerful martial artist, he wouldn't hesitate twice to take her on some stupid training mission. He hoped that baka-panda wouldn't notice the potential the girl had.

Watching some more fights, an advertisement told what stores had these dolls and there Ranma began his secret plans. This seemed that it would be quite a bit of fun!

So now she stood in front of the department store, dressed in the usual chinese red silk shirt and black pants, she mentally prepared herself to buy a doll. She mentally winced at the thought of what her mom would say. 'Getting a doll is not manly!' she would say and would bring out the tanto on the spot. That meant she would have to get a disguise whenever she came to a televised event. And a secret name. Hmm...well, that would have to come later. She figured in the number of people in the stadium, there were certainly lots of strangely colored hairstyles in Central Tokyo that another red-head wouldn't make as great a fuss. She would just let her hair out of the pigtail. She once again breathed a sigh of relief the Dragon Whisker finally lost its power.

Then she would be able to show off her martial...oh crap! If her father, or the Tendo's ever saw her fighting in Anything Goes, her cover, disguise or not, would instantly be blown. Crap! Now she wouldn't ever be able to fight in the great televised events.

Her biggest concern was Nabiki. But pondering the situation, she found that if she won, keeping Nabiki in the loop would certainly keep her mouth shut. The prize money was no joke. If Nabiki ever found out, telling her that she was trying for the prize to repay her would result in less information being spread. She hoped. Nabiki would certainly appreciate the fact that if the rest of the family knew, the games would effectively end. But what about Shampoo or Ukyo? Were they fans of Angelic Layer? She knew that many girls liked the sport. That's all it seemed to be composed of. There were a few guys, and even fewer were actually good at it. Now THAT was interesting. But Ranma knew that eventually she would have to let everyone know what she was doing. This was something that Ranma decided for herself! Something new to try out other than martial arts, despite the fact it still had a lot to do with that anyway.

Shaking herself out of that long session of mental anguishing, she entered the store looking for the toy section where she would find the starter kits for Angelic Layer. When she found it, she was surprised to see it had a whole section dedicated to it. The place was pretty big. There were sections for various costumes and equipment, the starter kits, various other accessories that were required to start up, wigs, and a whole slew of other things. It seemed it was mostly clothes though. It certainly was a girly sport. Girls loved to play dressup and all that. Ranma simply bypassed the areas with the overly-girly outfits and took a quick lookaround at the male selection. It wasn't as impressive as the feminine side, but it did have some nice designs. Ranma physically slapped herself. She didn't want to admit it, but if she stayed here too long, she would develop a fashion sense. Nah, better to stick with her cover and get a girl model. Besides, the female forms would naturally be slightly faster anyway. Sure she could set a guy model up, but a girl fighting with a guy avatar would be slightly strange. Better to keep apprearances up. Yeah, and that outfit would look cool on what she had in mind.

She went up to the area with the starter sets. Picking up the box with the egg and looking at the back, she found there were about 10 other necessary items to get. Going around the store, refusing to ask for help with the attendants wandering around, she found them and taking a quick look at the costumes for a final evaluation, she headed to the checkout counter. She wouldn't get a costume at the moment, she still didn't know exactly what the doll would end up like exactly. The instructions said that after inputting the user's desired settings, the doll would change shape in such a way that would finalize its settings. Then she would be able to get the measurements to get the right fitting costume. It was also said a person could tailor their own clothing with tiny cloth swatches from scratch if they wanted to. As she mentally reviewed what would have to be done to overtake such a task, she again slapped herself. She REALLY had to get out of here, and quickly! Paying for the things with money she withheld from Nabiki as long as she possibly could, she exited the mall as it was beginning to shut down.

Sure enough, it was getting quite dark already. Everyone would be asleep when she got back. Perfect! And she would be able to set it all up and get the clothes tomorrow! Fortunately, the subways kept going till late, and she decided some quiet roof-hopping would save yet a bit more money instead of taking the bus.

Upon arrival, she slipped into the guest room which had basically become the Saotomes'. Blowing a bit of sleeping powder confiscated from Kodachi into his father's face to ensure no interruptions, she began to unpack all the boxes. Reading the instructions, she found she had to open the egg in a bath to drain out the padding fluid. Eh, might as well, she had been a girl long enough. The furo had to be filled, but this late at night, no one would be too disturbed if she kept it slow and quiet. After taking a scrub, change, relaxation, and an opening of the egg, he went back to the room. Opening a few other packages, he found the little unit that looked like a laptop. He sighed when he looked at the thick instruction booklet. This was going to take awhile.

AN: Please leave a review!

CH2

Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 2 Finishing Touches

SPLASH! "ARGH!" Ranma, once again, was unpleasantly woken with a handy bucket.

"It's about time you got up! Breakfast is ready!" Akane said from the door. The panda kept on sleeping.

The room showed no evidence of last night's activities. All trash that indicated its presence was put in thick, opaque plastic bags and tossed out in a nearby dumpster. Everything else was hidden away using some of Mousse's Hidden Weapons Techniques. After following all the instructions, Ranma had made all the adjustments and settings in much the same way his female form moved. It turned out quite similar in stature as herself, but with a much smaller bust. He always had complained about how they kept getting in the way of her fighting, and put her much more off-balance than she really needed in a fight. In the end he named the doll Ranko, as in Wild Child. Sure it was a dead giveaway, but he felt the need to...simply put his own personal touch to her.

Yawning from the slight lack of sleep, she slowly dressed and came downstairs. Everyone else was there already, even Nabiki. What? Hell, if Nabiki were already up and running, she REALLY musta slept in. Picking up the warm kettle and dumping it on herself, Ranma tried to wake himself completely. The sleeping powder must have worn off, but at least Genma woke up later than he usually does and there wasn't any morning sparring except for the usual battle over the food. Ranma was tired of this, constantly battling it out trying to protect his food (and everyone else's for that matter...baka-panda) and attacked directly. Snapping out his chopsticks, he nabbed one of Genma's attacking chopsticks that was heading for Nabiki's plate and using a deft twist, broke off the longer part of one chopstick and flung the offending utensil out the window. He did it so fast Genma was left wondering why he didn't get any food when he stuck the remaining whole chopstick into his mouth trying to eat his 'prize'. He attacked some of the others' plates and still no food was stolen. He didn't even bother checking his own weapon for defects and breakfast proceeded with much more food for everybody.

When everyone finished, Kasumi noticed that Genma still had a lot of food on his plate. "Saotome-san, are you not feeling well? You hardly touched your food." Nabiki, just finishing her tea, gave a spit-take. Well, that was a first. Damn, she's going to have to pay Akane and her father big time for this. Well, no matter, maybe Genma was just really ill or something.

Genma, realizing that everyone was about to leave, and he hadn't gotten any food, finally looked at his hand. One of his chopsticks was broken right near his hand. Damn, that boy was getting better. He sheepishly got up and went to the cupboard and got a fresh pair of wooden chopsticks and went back to eat what was left of his meal. That's funny, he didn't remember eating half of it...

School was finishing again for the day, and Ranma, again went off to the store. This time ala Air-Akane. Well, beats waiting for the bus and the subway. At least he was heading in the right exact direction. Why hadn't he thought of this before? It was simply a matter of manipulating Akane's movements and direction and softening the blow enough to not go too far. Although since where he wanted to go was pretty far, he did have to be a bit more harsh than he usually was. She was also angry that Ranma hadn't gotten her an engagement ring like she thought he did. He had to tell her he didn't find what he was looking for, and wanted to go back. There was some new manga he had found and there weren't any left, was the story. Forget that Prevent-Foot-In-Mouth technique for the moment, and make Akane think that he'd gone back to his old egotistical self. Hmm, maybe that's why Nabiki loves manipulating people so much...there was some satisfaction knowing you got someone to act the way YOU wanted them to. But he guessed she also liked the money she got from them. Hmm...to think of a technique to resist that kind of manipulation being done on himself...

He paid Nabiki a hefty sum (well, more like added a lot to his current debt) for information about Kodachi's, Ukyo's, and Shampoo's TV interests and other possible "little girly" hobbies...err...like maybe playing with dolls or whatnot. It was a bit of effort not to let slip the fact that he was trying to avoid them finding out about his own interest in Angelic Layer, but it seemed to work and Nabiki was left thinking that Ranma wanted to have a sort of "Girly" index to sort out which fiancee he could dump. She even began using that thought as the basis of her study, and sent her lackeys out finding their usual routines. Even though she already had a good overview of their hobbies, habits, and interests.

Oh well, it's nearly time for landing. Better prepare himself as to not freak anyone out too much by falling out of the blue. He pulled out a thermos of cold water and dumped it in front of himself so he would splash into it as he fell. She twisted and aimed in the direction of a tall building with plenty of flag-poles. She caught and swung on one up and over to land standing on it. Then she looked around for the nearest fire-escape. There! Swinging back onto the pole, she flipped up and around more poles to land on the fire-escape. From there, it was simple to go down, drop down easily in an ally, and walk nonchalantly out.

Once again, Ranma stood in front of the store, this time dry and with purpose. Now that Ranma had the model, she could start designing a costume for Ranko. Walking in with purpose, she went straight to the costume section and started comparing models and colors. Alright, she would admit it. She really WAS developing a fashion sense. Just gotta hide it from everyone. Wasn't it once said that knowin stuff was the best weapon? Or sumthin like that...Well, if that was true, or some other variation of it, then that meant that ANY experience has value of some sort. Again, she thought back of Nabiki. Nabiki was certainly powerful, and no one dared do anything to her in fear of what she knew. Cause she could let everyone know what she knew and if she knew something that person didn't want known, perfect blackmail material. Also very good for using to collect debts on time.

Anyway, Ranma turned her attention back in front of her and looked at the selection once again. Better not to use any of her usual colors or styles, so she picked out a white form-fitting silk shirt with a blue jacket. Slightly loose dark-blue leggings and a pair of light red-and-white striped flat-bottomed boots were chosen. Looking through some of the extra peripherals, she thought back at that Hikaru model. Sure those long lines could be used as weapons, but what if they swung in the wrong way and fouled up her movements? She really liked the look of it however, and in some ways could be used as a sort of balance stabilizer and short-ranged weapons. Deciding to get them anyway, and, hoping not to copy Hikaru too much, had the idea to maybe wrap them over he shoulders to keep them in reach, but out of her way. Looking through the hair accessories, she decided to ditch the lot of them, and moved on. Jewelry...not! The gloves were next. Eh, those red and white fingerless gloves would make a good contrast to the white and blue, so those went in the shopping basket. There, she basically had a good starter set for her costume and would need to simply hem and refit some of the smaller details to get the right look. With that, she went to the cashier again, paid for her things, and left.

This time, Ranma didn't immediately go home. She decided to find someplace she could go so she could fit the clothes and then start playing. Yeah, Martial Artists weren't supposed to 'play', but she just told that voice that it was also training. The somehow panda-sounding voice grumbled, but stopped. There were some really nice parks around, so she stopped at one and took out her things. It was a pretty simple matter to adjust everything and fit them on Ranko. She mused that it looked pretty good. Now to see how this game worked. Alright! Alright! Training exercise! She remembered the mall had some tables set up, so went back to it. At least this place was free and pretty empty at the moment. She could get a table by herself easily if she wanted.

Whistling cheerfully to herself, rented a table at the counter, sat down at the empty table and took out the pamphlet she got at the counter. Following its instructions, she put the visor on, and pressed the button on the side. She felt a small tingle behind her ears and thought that it was working properly. Reading the phamphlet once again, said for her to lightly toss her angel in. Concentrating on the doll and infusing it with a bit of ki, she tossed it in. Of course, being inexperienced with it, it slumped lifelessly to the ground. Thinking she needed to concentrate harder on making it move, she closed her eyes. Now, bringing up some techniques in meditation and concentration, she began feeling for Ranko.

She didn't notice her aura springing up around her and beginning to feed its way onto the layer. She instinctively kept it down to a minimum, so it wasn't yet visible to the naked eye. She concentrated fully on feeling what it felt, hearing what it heard, seeing what it saw. Then, with a small jerk on her aura, she felt herself as if being moved...or transferred. Then it was gone as suddenly at it came. But there was still a funny feeling as if being in two places at once. Feeling that was what she was supposed to be feeling, she opened her eyes. 'Why am I lying down?' she wondered. She got up, and looked around. She was standing on some sort of white plain that extended in all directions for a bit. She turned, and looked out beyond the whiteness. 'What the...?' She looked up...and up...and up...and there was her face, eyes closed in meditation.

CH3

Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 3 Huh?

Ranma just stared at herself for a few moments wondering if she was having one of those out of body experiences. Then she thought to look at her present self. Looking at her hands, she noticed the red and white fingerless gloves. Looking at the rest of herself, she found she was wearing the same uniform of her angel. Wait a moment. She once again looked at the white "plain" she thought she was on and found it was the platform that the angels usually fought on. She WAS the angel! This was too weird. She also felt a momentary panic when she realized she wasnt breathing, but a mere moment later remember that robots dont need to breathe. Okay. She somehow transfered her conciousness to the Angel on the layer. How did that happen? She remembered calming herself down, closing her eyes, then reaching out with her senses to the angel. She then remembered the jerk on her aura as she fed some of her ki into it, then the feeling of being transferred. That must have been it. Whatever they used to power the angels must have also mixed with her ki and switched her body. She hoped she could get back, and not get stuck like this.

She sat down crosslegged on the layer and like her counterpart, closed her eyes. Feeling out with her aura again, she realized that her current body's ki was being fed by her real one. Following the line, she again felt the jerk that indicated the connection then the transfer. Opening her eyes, she once again saw everything back in normal perspective. Glancing around to make sure no one detected anything strange going on around her, she found no one was close enough to have notice anyway. She spent the rest of her rented time switching back and forth trying to get a feel and understanding on what was going on. When she got the feel of it down pat, she started up a slow (to her) kata to get the movement coordination right. Already, she could feel many differences between the Angel and herself. For one, she felt a lot slower than she usually was. That may be a problem if it ever came into a full out martial arts battle. Another was the fact that her ki source wasn't based in her body anymore. That was certainly different. She knew that her Angel body wouldn't ever have enough ki to perform even a minor Mouko Takabisha. And the fact that Angels probably wouldn't ever produce hot or cold ki so the Hiryu Shoten Ha was definitely out. As she went into a slightly faster and more complex kata, she found herself making a few minor mistakes. Bringing her concentration to bear on the art of the kata, and less on analyzing the differences, she made fewer mistakes. There were still some, but that may have been due to her still being unused to the body. She remembered herself having very much the same problem when she was first cursed. Actually, it was more like she had a much harder time back then. Now, she felt that more of the mistakes were because of less concentration. She continued the exercise until time ran out.

When her rented hour was finished, she gathered her things and left the shopping center. It was getting dark already. She thought back on how she was going to be coming back here so often and couldn't think of any real valid reasons to leave so often. Training trip? Pop'll just insist on Akane accompanying him. Tell the truth? Really bad idea. Pop'll go on about how girly it was and distract him from the Art. Not only that, but the fiancee brigade will charge in and ruin everything as well. Hmm, how about move out? Well, that would have to wait till school let out, and NO ONE would like that. Except perhaps his rivals. But Ryouga would still be out for his blood for betraying Akane or for ruining his life or whatever mood he was in at the time. Those two were the most common.

When she got home, she found Nabiki waiting for him inside the door, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Welcome back, Saotome. So where have you been tonight?" she said with narrowed eyes.

Ranma immediately began sweating bullets. "Uhh, I was out..." she began, stammering.

"Out with some GUY?"

"WHAT! NO WAY! I ain't been with NO guy!"

"So why are you a girl now?"

"You know how much of a water magnet I am..." she began lamely.

"Yeah, sure...but there's a little problem with your alibi there, Saotome...You're dry."

Ranma began sweating some more.

"You want to know why I think you've managed to dig yourself a new hole? Well for one, you're a girl and currently dry. That evidence means you've been a girl for quite some time. Second, your pigtail's been retied differently than usual. That means your hair's been undone recently. Third...do I detect some light makeup?"

"Hey! I ain't been wearin' no makeup!"

"My, my, my. What should we expect next? Perfume? Wearing a purse? A bundle of flowers? Next thing we know, you've gotten yourself a new fiancee, and this time it's a man."

Ranma's face turned red in anger. "Hey! I ain't been out with no guy! I've just been out shopping!"

"Ooh, shopping. Let's see now. Hair care products, nail polish, dollies..."

Ranma gulped. Fortunately, Nabiki was too engrossed in embarrassing Ranma to notice.

Nabiki noticed her silence and began chuckling. "Oh, Ranma, I was just messing around. You need to lighten up some. I was also kidding about the makeup.  
Dinner's nearly ready." She narrowed her eyes at Ranma. "Oh, and this time, let me know if you're going to do something that may make me lose a bet. That last stunt with your father cost me, and since YOU were the one to cause it, it's going to cost you as well."

Crap. "Fine, sorry about that. I didn't know that you had bets on stuff happening in the house during times SOME people would consider private."

"Hell, Saotome. I have bets going on at what time you would get up in the morning, and whether or not its by your father throwing you out the window to train or Akane splashing you with water to wake you up. Let's say if you were to ever get up by yourself, you would make me lose money. Got it?"

Geez, it was like Nabiki was controlling everything in his life. "Is there anything I can do?" she said exasperated.

Nabiki replied with a chesire grin, "Not, unless you decide to throw a fight."

Ranma gave her trademark smirk, "Hey, Ranma Saotome always wins!"

Nabiki turned and left. Sighing, Ranma took off her shoes, dropped her pack by the door, put on the house slippers and followed Nabiki to the dining room.

Dinner was the usual. Ranma (now male) and Genma (still a panda) were battling outright over the food. Actually, Genma was fighting a little harder than usual because all he had on his plate were bamboo shoots. Akane was fighting to keep her temper down due to the racket (caused by the Saotomes) and steadily losing. Soun was crying over how good Kasumi's cooking was. Kasumi was busy comforting him. Nabiki was the only one eating somewhat normally. Finally, as usual, Akane lost it, malleted Ranma on the head. It caused Genma to get a lucky hit in and while Ranma was out of it, switched their plates. By the time Ranma recovered enough, he noticed what occured. He became angry at being given what was basically panda food and HIS plate was already empty. He went to kick his father in the head, but Genma countered the blow and sent him flying out into the yard. At that time, Genma had had his fill (for that very moment) and started the usual impromptu sparring match.

After some time, when the others finished eating and watched the sparring match turn into a panda beating once Ranma was lured then dunked into the koi pond and pissed her off from saying she was a weak girl, everyone went their seperate ways and prepared for sleep.

School was hell for Ranma today. He'd forgotten he had left the angel in his backpack and only found out about it at school when he went to get his homework. Now he had to try his hardest to not let anyone find it, or bump into it hard enough to possibly damage it. With the way challenges come his way, it was a hefty task trying to keep it inconspicuous. It didn't help that he was worrying about it so much that he actually brought more attention to his pack than he really wanted.

"Ranma! Prepare to die!"

A familiar cry rang out from the window a split second before an umbrella weighing nearly a ton came in on a direct collision course with Ranma's head. He nearly allowed his instincts to kick in and merely dodge the projectile, but he remembered in that split second it would continue on its course and possibly hurt several students. He sprang up onto his desk and kicked the leading edge of the umbrella.

It barely budged. 'Damn! He must have added more weight to it!' Ranma thought feeling his foot begin to throb. However it was enough to change its trajectory up and over everyone's head. It continued up and through the roof. Fortunately, they were on the top level, so it merely went through some piping. Fortunate?

"Why did it have to be the cold water pipe!" Ranma screamed at the heavens through the hole in her suddenly aquired soprano voice.

Ryouga was quickly approaching by jumping up at the window, but he shied away when he saw the pouring water from the pipes. He landed on the window sill and laughed at Ranma's predicament. "Hey, Ranma! How do you like your morning shower?" He called in a jeering voice. "Too bad it didn't kill you. I'll just have to try something else!" He began pulling out bandannas from his forehead.

'Too crowded! If porkbutt is going to do what I think he is, people will get hurt!' Ranma thought in that split second, and leaped at Ryouga before he could get more than 3 bandannas loaded. Ryouga merely smirked and threw what he had using his trademark Iron Cloth technique, turning the spotted yellow bandannas into sharp edged shuriken. Ranma had no choice but to take what she could. She flung both arms outwards from a crossed position and created a quick pressure wave that should knock the bandannas off course and slow them down enough to make them harmless cloth. It was enough to knock two of them in that way, but the third merely got blown further downwards and swung down under Ranma's desk. Ranma finished her maneuver by giving Ryouga a good kick in the jaw, sending him flying out into the soccer field. She looked back to see if her plan worked. Two bandannas draped over Akane's head, and he could see veins beginning to pulse at her temples. The third...

"CRAP!" She dived back to her desk. More precisely, under her desk. She saw one end of the bandanna draped over the buckle of her pack. The rest was imbedded within it from what looked like a vertical hairline cut that neatly cut through the metal upper buckle. "Crap crap crap!" Ranma tore into her pack from under her desk checking if her angel was cut. If Ryouga broke it...she swore he would feel the pain. This time, she would aim below the belt. The spot no honorable martial artist would dare attack. Well, honor between martial artists be damned, this would ruin all of her plans! Well, it would also be a total waste all of her savings, but that didn't quite register in her mind at that moment. She opened the top, absently marvelling at how the cut buckle chimed as it fell loose onto the floor. It was safe! The angel had been pushed to the side of the pack, and the bandanna had only cut right into the middle. Still, it was time to make Ryouga pay! She got out from under the desk holding her pack and yanked the bandanna out from it. Time for some Saotome Bluffing Technique.

"Dammit Ryouga! You ruined all my homework! I worked all night on it, and you cut through all my papers!" She pushed her hand into it and pulled out her notebook. No one noticed the quick movements when she put her hand in, so what she pulled out was what one would see if they put something into a paper shredder. This would not only implicate Ryouga, but be an excuse for her not having done the homework! 'Great thinking, Ranma!' She mentally congratulated herself. She carefully dropped the bag back under her desk and jumped out after Ryouga in a pretend rage. Time to pound the pork...

Finally! School was out, he was male, (perhaps a bit sore around the head area, Akane wasn't pleased for "picking on poor Ryouga"), and he could finally get some more training in. Maybe even spar with someone to judge his abilities. After all, nothing helps train a body than a battle.

As he left, his cut up pack slung over his shoulder, he didn't notice Nabiki exiting the gates watching him. "Well, this is interesting. Ranma leaving early without Akane. I wonder what he's up to..." With that, she told her flunkies to continue business without her and began following at a distance. She hoped she could stay inconspicuous enough to not draw his attention. But he would be easy to spot with that red silk shirt of his he always wears. Heading to the bus station, eh? She paused by the wall of a building for a moment to dig into her pack for the little camera she always has on her. This should prove to be informative and quite entertaining...

AN: may have noticed I changed a few things from earlier and added quite a bit more content. At first, I thought I had enough written. But after reading one of my reviews and rereading the chapter, I had to agree that it definitely was too short. So here is the updated chapter. There were also a couple of issues that I found made Nabiki a little too...nasty. I had hoped that it would just evoke the feeling that she was simply teasing Ranma, but I may have went a little overboard. Also some of her sayings didn't quite sound like her, so I changed a little of that as well. Well, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for all those who wrote reviews, both good and bad.

Update May 29: I decided that the end of the chapter was ended a bit abruptly, and didn't quite give the sense of the trials that Ranma had to go through during school to protect his secret, and give the sense that perhaps Ranma is thinking more about the doll than he normally would...is he changing? And is it for the better? Prolly...

CH4

Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 4 Practice

Ranma arrived at the mall where she had her first experience on the layer. But this time, she came in an outfit that totally belied her usual appearance. First of all, the gloves were off. Couldn't afford to let anyone to notice her usual style of clothing and report it to Nabiki. She was in different clothing. Before the honored reader can give more than a gasp, it was nothing anyone would even consider extremely girly. She was wearing jeans, a Dragonball Z print T-Shirt, and an attitude that screamed tomboy.

Despite all of her taunts with Akane, she did know what a tomboy usually acted and dressed like. Basically, as Ranma had gathered, a tomboy was a girl who sorta wanted to be a boy. A girl who dressed, acted, and talked as such. If she ever looked back at the past, the only time she never acted as a tomboy herself was when she was in a disguise to fool Ryouga. SHE was the real tomboy, but that thought was quickly overrulled by the reasoning that it was because she was a boy anyway.

In short, she didn't really look all that much different, except for the new clothing. She wanted to have a look that would maybe allow herself to act more herself. Of course, the conflicting desires to blend in and keep out of sight (and her wallet out of Nabiki's hands) clashed with the desire to be herself. The desire to be herself won, and the screaming inner voice that cried out, 'You'll be sooorrry!' was shoved kicking into her inner recesses and locked up tight. None of Nabiki's henchgirls would be this far away from Nerima anyway...And it was the weekend, so she would be able to stick around this area a whole lot more.

The note under her covers back in their room would let everyone know that "Ranma would be out training somewhere". Of course, she had let the note ramble on about how it would also keep him out of Akane's way. School hadn't been pretty after coming back in from Ryouga's beating. Akane had gone on about how she shouldn't pick on poor Ryouga despite all evidence pointing in the contrary. If Ranma had dodged the bandannas, they would have been on a direct course for her face. Of course, Akane didn't even listen to that, and pounded on him after splashing him with a kettle of EXTREMELY hot water miraculously drawn from who knows where. That part of the note was badly covered up in scribbles in such a way so that everyone could read it, but would look like Ranma discovered what he did and tried to cover it up...and badly.

Also, Ranma would have to think of some kind of nickname or cover identity. Well, that can come later. First, to get some more of that training in. She was nearly out of cash, and would probably have to do some more waitressing to get some quick cash.

There were plenty of cafe's around here that would get a lot busier during the summer break, and Ranma had done quite well her first time as a waitress. Of course, it was in the Nekohanten, and having an old ghoul toss several bowls of hot steaming ramen at you when you had been hit by the Cat's Tongue pressure point was a lot tougher than her other times working as a waitress. This she quickly learned, but all of it had to be done in secret.

Of course, doing a bit of show-boating around got seriously better tips, but she saved most of that for when she needed a serious bit of cash in a very short time. The Nekohanten took her in a few more times, and she made quite a bundle in those times, but having to deal with an amorous Amazon all the time coming to the conclusion that her Airen came to his senses and was coming to visit her was getting on her nerves. She expanded to other cafes and restaurants from time to time and it seemed to get her what one could almost consider a steady income. Most of it went to Nabiki, of course.

'And she hadn't figured out where the money was coming from...most of the time, at least...I think...' Ranma thought privately. She forked over a few 5 yen coins for her rental of the table for a couple of hours and went to it. She took out her angel Ranko, and held it in one hand while she got in her seat and put on the visor with the other. Activating both layer and the visor thing, she prepared herself to that mental state she was in when she transfered to the angel. She tossed Ranko in and started feeding her ki into it again. As the angel passed the threshold that activated the angels, Ranma felt the strange tugging and the feeling of transfer hit again. Again, the sense of duality and the sense that her ki was not right filled her being.

Opening her eyes, she found herself once again in the body of Ranko falling in towards the center of the layer. Spreading out her hands a bit, she snapped her legs around and finished the fall into a flip and landed upright yet a bit off balance. Ranko was instinctively trying to compensate for the bouncing that wasn't as apparent in this body as her own. Aside from that, it was almost a perfect landing.

Ranko started up in a series of katas that matched the intensity and complexity as the Anything Goes style held, and she was pushing it up a few notches in speed. She was so entralled in her dance that she hardly noticed anything else coming. That was until she felt someone tugging at her arm sharply as she was about to perform an upside-down spinning kick. In a flash, and without even really realizing it, she was back in her own body. Her mental state was such that she continued the maneuver, exploding from her chair nearly missing the boy who was trying to get her attention and she was upside-down, balanced on the back of the chair with only one hand.

She blinked, noticing the lack of the feeling of being inside Ranko, and the sudden change of scenery. She looked up, down at the young man who was sitting on his bottom, mouth wide in an expression that said simply "Wow!".

"Uhh, ehe, sorry about that." Ranma snapped her legs together and pushed off her one hand and flipped back into the chair proper. "I wasn't paying attention..."

"I...I was just trying to ask if you'd...you'd like to dance with me on the l- layer." He shook his head a bit and got his mental bearings. "You looked like you were dancing, and I thought you might have wanted some company. You must already know that dancing is an excellent way of training on the layer, but from your movements there...uhh, are you a martial artist?"

Ranma immediately waved her hands in front of her and shook her head emphatically, "NO! Not a martial artist! Not me! Hahahaha!" She put one hand behind her head and started laughing maniacally, avoiding eye contact. "Haven't trained one bit! Martial artist? Me? Hah! I'm just a simple clumsy weak little girl. That's me!" She started rambling trying to deny what she had just done. Of course, it was much too late for that. She had already attracted quite a bit of attention from her sudden movement, and everyone had gotten a very good look at her holding herself upside down by one hand and doing the splits on the back of a chair, and her other hand cocked back ready to punch.

She snuck a quick glance at the young man and saw he was having none of that. She hung her head in defeat. She knew she'd already blown it, and covering it up like that wasn't enough...more laughing, less eye contact, and more calling herself clumsy next time.

"Don't give me that! I bet you're a fantastic martial artist! If you were fitting all those jumps, kicks and punches into your dance like that, and just seeing you flow into that same move in real life like that, I have to say you're at least a 4th dan black belt!" He pointed at Ranko who was still in position, upside-down in that same way as she herself was a moment ago. "Oh, my name is Ojiro. Mihara Ojiro. Though, I'm sure you've heard of me if you're a fan of Angelic Layer."

"Nope, never heard of ya" Ranma held out her hand to shake his, "Today's only my second time trying it out."

"Really? Well, would you like a match? The best way one can learn is by playing."

"Sure!" Ranma sat down at her chair and untangled the wire of her headset from herself. Ojiro sat at the other side and put on the other headset.

As they faced each other, ready to send their angels in, there was a flash of a camera to the side.

"Na-Na-Nabiki!"

AN: Please send comments and reviews to my account: http: would like to thank you all for your reviews, criticisms and enthusiastic support. Sorry if I can't reply directly, but I'm just not the sort to say things to each and every person.

Yeah, I know, blatently putting Ojiro into the picture like this. But I'm sure anyone would be quite surprised if someone were to suddenly kick out at them like that, so I think Ojiro's reaction would be quite realistic. He's not a true martial artist after all...his strength only shines in the layer.

I would like to ask all you readers to help me figure out a name for Ranma's secret identity. I was breifly thinking about the name Ryouko, since this will in no way cross with Tenchi so you wont have to worry about that, but I'm not sure if you all may think this as a good idea or not. If you have other names in mind, either post it in the review section on or email your suggestion to and I give my heartfelt thanks in advance.

Update: the voting is now over, and I have decided on Seiko for Ranma's secret identity. Thank you all for your support!

CH5

Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 5 Discovery

Flash!

"Well isn't this interesting?" A voice came from behind.

Ranma turned and saw the one face that could ruin it all...Nabiki.

"Na-Na-Nabiki!" She yelped in surprise.

"So I was right! You were seeing someone!" She said in a teasing voice. Ranma's face turned red. Whether from embarrasment or anger, she couldn't really tell.

"Nabiki!" Ranma protested.

Nabiki decided to diffuse the situation with a few more words. "Kidding! Kidding!" Nabiki said placatingly. "I know, you just met. I saw him ask if he could join you to dance. Didn't know you knew how to dance..." She started teasing again. She couldn't really help it.

"It was a KATA!"

"I know, I know. Everything about you is Martial Arts. Martial Arts is Law. Martial Arts is God. Martial Arts is the Be All, End All of all reality. Geez, you are SO easy to tease." She turned to the other occupant of the table. "You mind if I speak with her privately?"

Ojiro smiled and nodded. Must be her sister. Certainly got that sibling rivalry thing going on. Too bad he didn't get a chance to dance with the obviously skilled girl. Though why her physical body exploded into motion when he touched her shoulder like that was beyond him. He found it especially strange how she was perfectly balanced on one hand on the backrest of the chair like that and found it even stranger the fact that she did it without even really seeming to notice herself doing it after being startled like that. This was beyond his experience. This was a truely amazing girl! Obviously he'd never heard the stories from Nerima or, if he did, discounted them as merely superhero stories to tell little kids. After all, there weren't really Sailor Senshi in Juuban or aliens in Tomobiki.

Somewhere, a group of girls in short magical sailor fukus and elsewhere, a girl with horns and a tiger striped bikini, sneezed violently and simultaneously.

Ranma reluctantly got up, picked up her angel, and followed Nabiki. Yep...there went her chances at having a little fun. It was great while it lasted, she thought bitterly to herself.

When they were in a more private place at a little cafe, (yep, Ranma's paying) Nabiki began to talk.

"I see you've been holding out on me, eh Saotome?"

Ranma said nothing, just hung her head.

"Now I have to ask myself, 'How did the old jock manage to stash away enough money to buy one of these higly technological dolls?' Granted, they aren't so expensive for any average family, but you do know that you have accumulated quite a..." she paused for emphasis, "...debt, shall we say?"

Ranma still said nothing.

"Why were you keeping all this a big secret? Is it rebellion? Is it to do something you wished to do for yourself? Is it cause you wanted to do something other than only the High and Mighty Martial Arts?"

Ranma still said nothing. She looked at her, then her expression turned happy.

"I'm so glad you're finally doing something for yourself! You know, you are so easy to manipulate, I was wondering if there was anything you would ever do that was your own choice. I know, I have been doing much the same your father has, but I did it for two reasons. One, you're my cash cow. You set the betting pools on fire. It's because you win all the time, there have been people who have begun betting against you thinking your streak has got to end at one time or other. Of course, you do have...ahh...'setbacks', but you never truely lose, as you always say. From time to time, we take a little hit when that happens. But when it does, more bets start appearing again against you thinking that you had finally hit your limit. But what do you do? You prove them wrong once again. My primary concern has always been my family. I am the money maker of the household. Kasumi's the caretaker. Akane...well...is your fiancee and, in a sense, a different sort of cash cow. But don't get me wrong, it's really only because she gets kidnapped so often and you go dashing off to be her hero once again that making money off of that is just as easy. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Ranma just kept her head hung low. Nabiki decided to lay on the other bomb shell.

"My other reason is to try and teach you a lesson. I'll be blunt. You have no backbone when it comes to making your own decisions in life. You are great in martial arts, and have proven that time and time again. But social skills? Your future? Have you ever thought on that? How are you going to run a dojo and teach students? Do you even know how to teach?"

Ranma remained silent.

"Didn't think so. Now, do you know how to pay taxes? Get a job if things don't go the wrong way? Run a FAMILY? No! It's because you've had so much focus on only one thing, and its one that isn't well suited for doing any of these things. One of these days, I'm going to have to show you the ropes on doing such things. Think of it as advanced training techniques if that helps you any. Oh, and stand up to that dumb panda you call a father. You should realize by now that all he wants is for you to marry Akane for is so he could retire living off of you and your hard work. One thing I will have to insist when you finally tie the knot is for you to kick that dang panda out and for him to live with your mom. You got that, Saotome?"

Ranma continued her silent treatment. Nabiki began to be a little suspicious.

"Ranma?" She poked her arm.

Ranma's head rolled to the side and let out a snore. (Saotome secret technique! Undetected napping! When you sleep when you should be listening/fighting/talking, and fool your opponent into thinking you are in deep thought. BWAHAHAHAHAH! BE AFRAID!)

Nabiki fell off her chair in surprise. Then she got up quickly and, managing a fair imitation of her father's demon head technique, screamed in Ranma's ear, "YOU WEREN'T EVEN LISTENING TO ME?"

Ranma woke up with a start. "Huh? So, I guess this means you're going to sell the information 'bout me playin' this to everyone, eh?" She finished drooping her head.

Nabiki simply shook her head. "You didn't even pay attention to what I was saying...sigh Ranma, I won't be telling anyone. As I said, you have to enter the tournament and win it and give me a percentage of the winnings. Now let's start talkin numbers..."

Ranma got ecstatic and shook her hand. "Alright! Thanks! Can you make sure no one would find out? I'll give you all the winnings!"

Nabiki pinched her temples. "Saotome, when I said that we're to start talking numbers, I meant I wanted you to bargain against me. Weigh the amount you would be willing to wager against the benefits I could provide."

Ranma made a face. "Eh, well, I was holding out some of the money so I could get this. I've been saving it for quite some time. I just wanted ta...yanno...repay you what I owed ya. Also, I don't really need all that much money after I got what I wanted. Also, uhh, you're really good at keepin someone's secret if they're like...payin ya enough, right? I don't really have all that much need...fer money, yanno?"

Nabiki just groaned. Evidently, Ranma completely missed her entire sympathy episode and she didn't really want to go through that again. She'd used up her good quota for the month and there was nothing that was going to make her go through that again today...

"Oh, fine...I'll just take half. You need the spending money."

...or maybe not.

"Now, I know that you probably already planned on doing some fighting on this...what was it again?"

"Uhh, Angelic Layer. These dolls are called Angels."

"Right, well, if you ever enter the tournament, we're going to have to come up with a name for you so when they announce it on TV, no one would realize it's you. I like how you had already planned some of this out and have changed your appearance enough so no one would think the wiser. Since it's nearing the end of the semester, and summer vacation is on the way, I think it would be better if I gave you a loan for you to rent an apartment for that time. It should be enough time for you to win that tournament and come back, and I'll leave hints about you going off somewhere else to find another cure for your curse. Mind, you're going to have to repay this...or I will be very incensed..." She made a mock threatening gesture with her fist. Nabiki found herself enjoying her company with Ranma, even if the dumb jock had no clue about how the real world works. Oh yeah, teaching her bro the ropes would definitely be fun...wait, when did she start thinking of Ranma as a brother? She shook that thought loose and continued. "...plus interest."

Oh, that was so sweet how she smacked her head into the table like that. This was JUST like having a brother to tease! Of course, at the moment, it was more like a sister, but somehow it just made it easier to deal with for some reason. Akane would always fly completely off the handle if she felt threatened and go into some sort of temper tantrum. She would never hit her sisters, but she would always go into a huff and end up destroying more bricks in the dojo than normally. Ranma...just fit into her view of how a sibling should be like. She felt very comfortable around her right now, and teasing just seemed to come naturally for her. Actually, it has been happening more often than not just recently. She would definitely consider this more carefully later. Maybe she wouldn't mind something a bit more...

"Nabiki?" a voice intruded into her thoughts.

"Right, just going through some calculations..." Nabiki replied automatically. "Let me think of some aliases for you to use and some ways you can make yourself even more inconspicuous so nobody from Nerima would look for you here. Oh, and I would like to mention one thing that I said before while you were sleeping...Ranma, I want you to enjoy yourself." With that, she left leaving a bewildered Ranma sitting there, her newly arrived ice cream sundae beginning to melt...untouched...

AN: Wow, I didn't think there were people who were still waiting for the next chapter of my fic...Okay, yeah, it WAS a long time since I last updated. It's mostly because I don't really have that much of an idea where to get this going...nor how. I mentioned earlier that I would like ideas for names, and got a couple of responses. So here I guess I could give some of my responses to those of you who have reviewed on my account...

DJ - I don't really like the idea of using A-ko (which I believe was spelled Eiko for her real name in that anime) since...well...I dunno really, and Utena I haven't seen any of so I can't really begin to guess her personality type. If I don't know the character, then I don't really feel comfortable about using the name, you understand? Hotaru, Nene, and Lina are very good candidates, so they're still in the running...go ahead and vote!

Slade3 - I liked the sound of Midori, but green doesn't seem to really fit all that well with who Ranma is. Of course it will definitely throw off any pursuers and there's the possibility that Nabiki would suggest Ranma to bleach then dye her hair green. Maybe say...oh...a nice sea green (your Forever a Tomboy was what inspired me to have this line of thought, ranger5...I had read your fic as well, and loved it. Please continue it! bows respectfully) As for Akira, when I hear that, I can only think of the anime Akira (for some oh so very odd reason) and it just kinda creeps me out, so I think I'll discard that one. Megumi as from Ah! My Goddess would probably fit well, Umi as in ocean sounds nice, but Usagi is definitely out. Ranma's not really much of a bunny type, even if she did wear a playboy bunny suit once...;

Preventer Squall - a very interesting idea with Mousse, but I don't plan on anyone from the NWC to learn about Ranma's whereabouts for quite some time...even if I don't really have much idea about the direction the fic will go...I think I'll keep that in mind for much later though...if Mousse ever does enter the Angelic Layer picture.

Sierra-Falls - I am so very sorry...RL issues...Writer's Block...Laziness (very much so here...) and the fact that other really great fics keep on coming out that I found most of my time occupied so I couldn't write. This is probably my first major project that I have been keeping up with for some time and I guess I feel a bit...awed that I have fans! Wow! And about the name Seiko, you're right, I have no idea what it means either, but it does sound nice...

For everyone else who didn't have quite as much to say, name-wise...I thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy this next little bit. I may have to add more a bit later, but I didn't want to keep you all waiting for much longer...so I'll put out what I've got for now...

Right, so the list goes as follows for you all to vote for:

Ryouko Hotaru Nene Lina Midori Megumi Umi (as in ocean, NOT birth! ) Seiko (unless I find out it means something I don't feel would fit with what I intend (someone please figure this out!))

As always, please send me constructive criticisms and comments. Ideas are always welcome as well. http: the voting is now over, and I have decided on Seiko for Ranma's secret identity. Thank you all for your support!

CH6

Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 6 Ranko Fights Part 1

Ranma gaped at where Nabiki had once sat. She was long gone, but somehow Ranma had the feeling that Nabiki was pulling something on her. It was inconceivable that she would willingly HELP her...without like, demanding every last yen out of her pocket. That must have been it, either Genma got in one too many hits in and Ranma was dreaming all of this, or Nabiki's gone off the deep end. Ranma was hoping for the former...it was somewhat safer because if Nabiki did go temporarily crazy, she would eventually be demanding double or maybe triple what Ranma owed. That must have been it. She's dreaming. She pinched herself hard on the cheek, felt the pain, then had the urge to scream out to the heavens how she'll be seeing hell soon.

She sighed and paid the waiter for both her and Nabiki's meals, then went back to the arcade where they had the Layer rentals. She found that Ojiro had drawn quite a crowd, so she decided to hang back behind and watch. Maybe she could learn a few techniques or something from him. However, he was merely dancing. Ranma noticed that he had his eyes open, and unlike her own experiences, it seemed that he was truely controlling the Angel somewhat remotely. His eyes were tracking the angel's movements, and they held the expression of slight concentration. He was also seeming to showboat a little, as if what he was doing took very little concentration and could do it easily. He was certainly well practiced. It looked like he was doing a kata of some school of Martial Arts Freestyle Dancing. But why wasn't he attacking his mental opponent? Surely that pirouette could throw in a couple of kicks? Maybe he was dodging?

The crowd was loving every moment however. Fangirls of all types were nearly screaming in delight when some really intricate part of the kata had his angel do an incredible spinning backflip or something. Feh, she could do those moves and more easily with her eyes closed. She nearly gave off a giggle, she pretty much WAS doing it with her eyes closed. Something must have been different in how she controlled the Angel than the others usually do. She had noticed that several people didn't actually have their own mindset transferred to the Angel. At first she thought that it must have been really advanced players that could do it, but considering how popular this Ojiro guy was, and the fact that he still wasn't transferred, he was a very well practiced player, and he still couldn't do it. Was it something to do with her ki? That must have been it, she could still feel a sort of link with her normal body, but it sort of felt like...a robot or something. It was also her source of how she kept herself in contact with the angel's body. It wasn't producing ki, she had to continuously draw it from her own body. Also, the transfer rate was such that unless she brought her ki trasfer to full power (and turn into a great big glowing beacon for all of Nerima to see), she would be rather limited to the ki-based attacks she could pull off.

The angel she'd designed was rather very similar to her own body, however. Very agile, meant for avoiding damage and dishing rapid low-powered attacks in critical areas, much in the same style she always used against Ryouga. It also seemed that it was one of the most effective ways of combat, considering how that Misaki kid had a light type and was champion, as her mother's Angel was also.

"Ojiro-san! I heard you are entering the tournament next week again to face off your rival, Suzuhara Misaki" someone shouted out above the din. "I hear you are willing to do whatever it takes to become champion, once again."

Ojiro slowly stopped the kata, and set the angel into a steady standing position. He took off the visor and smiled at the cute girl who had a little notebook, scribbling down everything he was doing. "I am not entering the tournament for the title...I am doing it to have fun and fight." He said calmly.

Ranma felt like she could really get to like this guy...not like that of course, but as someone who enjoys the Art the same way she does. She could hear in his voice that it was for the sake of the art that he was entering the tournament, not simply to earn some big shot title. She began to give off a sort of silly grin that to anyone who was watching, would have looked exactly like all the love-struck girls around her. Of course, as you probably had guessed, she was grinning for a completely different reason.

Ojiro reached over the Layer and picked up his Angel and it seemed like he was about to leave. The rest of the crowd began to disperse. Ranma looked at the timer on the layer and saw that she had been gone for nearly an hour, and that her time was almost up. She sighed and hung her head. Darn it all, Nabiki! She just HAD to show up and waste enough time that she wouldn't be able to practice anymore for the day. Ranma dug a hand into her pocket searching for any last yen coin that she could spare just to have just another round. Ojiro seemed to have been quite patient waiting for her, but her conversation with Nabiki seemed to take just long enough to gather quite a group and they all seemed to want to watch him practice. She couldn't blame him in the least, if there were people who wanted to see HER show off a few kata's when she was waiting for someone, not that she would ever be waiting for someone if it were in a situation such as a date (unless honor demanded it), she would gladly show off a few moves here and there.

Of course, her pockets were completely empty. Damn! Well, no sense wasting more time. She moved forward to gather Ranko who was still sitting off to the side, arranged as if she were watching Ojiro's performance. Ojiro noticed her as she came forward and looked at the timer, surprised. "Oh! I'm very sorry, miss! I was waiting for you...and...uhh...all these people wanted me to show them a dance...and...well..." He seemed to be struggling to find the words to explain why he ended up using Ranma's rented layer.

"Oh, it's alright, me and...uhh...my 'friend' had stuff to talk about, yanno? Dontcha worry about that. It's just too bad we couldn't spar. I noticed your performance, it's quite good. Martial Arts Freestyle Dancing, right? You know, you could have thrown in a few attacks while defending while in that stance" Ranma demonstrated right then and there, going into a sort of crouch, hands lifted high over her head very similar to the crane stance, albeit crouched low to the ground, and slowly spun around on the forward leg to sweep with the back leg sweeping her hands gracefully in a circular pattern, and followed with an exaggeratedly slow punch. "That way, your opponent would be mistimed enough for the follow-up punch to connect."

Ojiro blinked, "But...I was just dancing! Martial Arts Freestyle Dancing? Who's ever heard of that?"

Ranma blinked in turn, "You weren't using martial arts then? I thought you were a fighter. At least...I thought your angel was..." She nodded towards the inert Angel on the layer which had just powered down.

"Well, actually dancing like that is an excellent way to improve one's timing for an Angel on the layer. It's training one how to judge one's balance and timing because the time it takes for you to think of the Angel's movement and when it actually performs it is just very very slightly off. If you can't dance on the Layer, it means that you're willing the next movement too far ahead and the Angel loses balance."

"Oh? I've never had that problem."

"I can tell you've had a lot of practice. So I take it you weren't actually dancing, but performing some sort of kata? From your words, I take it you yourself are a martial artist, so basically performing katas is very much like dancing. Though, what style is that? Kempo? Kung Fu? Tai-Chi? Sorry, I'm not very good at identifying fighting styles by name. I mostly just fight self- learned fighters on the Layer, and often one has to adjust one's own style to the way the Angels' body type is on the Layer. As you probably could tell, it is rather impossible to be able to jump 5 times one's own height."

"No it aint!" Ranma said automatically.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Right, you know someone who can jump over a 2 story house..." He joked sarcastically.

"I do it all the time." Ranma continued shrugging, letting her mouth run off without a pilot.

Ojiro frowned. She must be delusional, he thought. Of course, he'd never gone to Nerima, so such things were still beyond his experience. He gave a sigh and gave up the arguement, he just wasn't the sort to continue an engagement, especially against a cute girl. "Well, anyway, I'm sorry for using up all of your time, allow me to sign you up for the next two hours. Oy! Tazuma! Give me two hours on Layer 05, would you?" He called over towards the rental desk.

"Sure thing! On the house as usual, Ojiro-san!" From the way the guy winked and waved back, they must have known each other quite well. Or Ojiro was more than just well known...maybe even well connected with people higher up.

"Shall we dance?" He gestured to the Layer.

"Sure!" Ranma agreed instantly. Who was she to refuse a free couple of hours when she wasted one earlier? It was just the same principle as getting a few extra scoops of ice cream from the stands. "Anything goes?"

"Huh?"

"As in, can we fight in any way we want?"

Ojiro sweatdropped a little. "Uhh, heh, no problem. So you want to have a few practice matches? How much health? Using any armors? Time limit? Handicap level? Plain or environmental stage? Number of rounds? I'll give you pick."

"Uhh, health? Armor? Time limit? I dont need no handicap, o'course."

He gave a hearty laugh "Heath and armor are values when you fight. Armors are items your angel wears that decreases damage taken from blows, but decreases its speed. Health is the total amount of damage your angel can take before you are knocked out and you lose. That one can use the defaults that the Angels have from your design, or be equal so that you could play around. Handicap is where certain moves are given an extra bonus so an inexperienced player can at least be given a level playing field against a more experienced one. Number of rounds is how many times you want to win before you win the match. Etcetera, etcetera."

"So what about that thing about an environmental stage?"

"Oh that? Well, its a pretty new thing now, but...hmm...how about I show you? I'll set this up for no time limit, base health values for your angel, best two out of three matches, Forest level, and no handicap" He nodded towards Ranma, "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

Ranma gave a feral grin, "Dont YOU worry bout that, I promise I won't beat you too badly." She snickered. She sat down in the egg-like chair and put on the visor while Ojiro fiddled with the control panel, setting up the match.

Since both Angels were still on the field, there was no calling in, and Ojiro made a quick mental note to mention the call in tradition that Angelic Layer had when they finished this round. He sat down and put on his own visor and pressed the button on the side of it to activate it. Ranma was already ready and started to go in her trance that would send her conciousness into Ranko. Ojiro gave a little grin and tapped the green "Go" button.

"Layer activated. Loading field..." Ranma transferred. "...Field loaded, activating Forest Level."

Ranma gaped as the whole field light up brightly for a moment as colored swirls flew in clouds in all directions. She was even more amazed as the swirls resolved into an entire forest scene. It looked almost exactly like the forests she would go to to train for some major fight or other. In fact, for some odd reason, it looked like the area where he and Ryouga trained. Him for extra Amaguriken training, Ryouga for the Bakusai Tenketsu training. Though, there were no boulders or ropes to be seen. She was familiar with this area, and she would be able to work that to her advantage. She even saw the exact location where she performed the Saotome Final Attack, but where she and Ryouga stopped was just out of range of sight. It sure seemed like old times. Heck, she could even hear and practically smell the forest all around her! Of course, she couldn't actually smell, since she didn't seem to need to breathe. But still, the effect of the "Realness" was there. Whoever made all these things must have been a total genius spending almost every second of his time working on this! With a hundred co-geniuses!

Ojiro glanced up at Ranma's face, a bit worried. She had her eyes closed, but her angel seemed to be reacting in a very odd manner. Well, actually, it would have made more sense if the expressions were reversed. As it were, the Angel was looking fanatically in all directions with an expression of awe on her face, but her Deus was...looked like she was asleep or something. Very strange.

Ranko grinned and faced off at Ojiro's angel, and gave a come on gesture. A mechanical female voice came up. "Round one...no time limit...Angelic...Fight" and there was a silly little ding! sound that indicated the start of the fight. She rushed forward at Wizard, her trademark smirk on her face, feeling the rush of emminent combat. Oddly, Wizard didn't move an inch as she came forward, and she quickly glanced at his Deus. He was still looking at her real body and not at his opponent. She'll make him pay for that one.

"Round Over! Ranko Wins!" With those words, Ojiro broke out of his dazed staring at Ranma and looked back at the Layer. Ranko was giving a V sign pointed directly at him, a great big laughing grin on her face and Wizard face down in the dirt. How in the heck? This girl could make a spatial map in her head of where her opponent was even before the round started? No way, not without running into the trees. He knew that she hadn't ever fought on an environmental stage before, her reaction was too genuine. So how did she do that?

He furrowed his eyebrows as he brought his attention to the Layer for the next round. Ranko and Wizard seperated a little ways and Ranko got into a ready stance, facing directly at Wizard. When the round started, he immediately started circling Ranko. He glanced a few times back up at Ranko's Deus, and was quite unnerved when her eyes were still closed, yet somehow Ranko could continually be facing Wizard. He had Wizard quickly sidestep and dash forward for his trademark instant Layer Out move. Ranko knew he was planning something when he was circling her so when he dashed forward in a blur of movement, leaving almost an after image behind, she was already ducking low to the ground, leg lashing out in a sweep. She knew she found a worthy opponent when at the very last possible moment, Wizard leapt over her, then instantly backflipped over her again as she continued her sweep to catch him on landing. He gave her a strong shove towards the edge and she felt a sudden pang of worry. What happens when an Angel goes off the Layer? What would happen to her if she didn't pull back to her body? Would her mind snap back, or would she end up trapped in the Angel's body forever until Ranko was put back on the Layer? She twisted as best she could in midair to just barely change her direction of flight, but it wasn't enough. She would still go off the layer, though only barely missing the edge instead of a full throw off.

The words "Layer Out! Round Over! Wizard Wins!" were the first thing she heard when she felt a sudden snapping sensation over her body and she opened her eyes in surprise, back in her own body. Making a quick look-over at herself. Yep, she's back in her body, safe and sound. At least she knows what would happen to her if that happened again. Evidently, that was one other method of winning the game.

"How did you do that?" came a sudden voice in front of her. Blinking quickly, she looked up at Ojiro. "How did you KNOW? HOW could you even fight without seeing with your own eyes!"

"I...I dunno really. It happened since the first time I tried it." She leaned back a little into the chair and began explaining. "It's like my own mind gets transferred into the Angel. Yeah, it's odd, having a different body and all, but I'm sorta used to..." She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Ahh, I mean...I...I dunno how I do that. Maybe it's got something to do with my Ki...or sumthin."

Ojiro didn't catch the slip, but was interested when she mentioned Ki. "What do you mean something to do with your Ki? It's impossible to transfer your entire mind into the Angel. For one, you wouldn't be able to see. Those eyes are merely for show. You had no time lag in your movements. You reacted instantly when something unexpected came up. I saw your Angel's stance tense up right when I started charging her. Your eyes were closed the entire time! I mean...it...it's impossible, isn't it?"

"Round Three. Ranko, please Call In." Interrupted the mechanical voice.

"Call in?" Ranma said confused at the new term.

Breaking out of his confusion, Ojiro explained, "It's where you introduce your Angel into the Layer. You usually recite a poem or an introduction for your Angel and toss her in. It can be just about anything, but you should at least include the name of your Angel in it, then finish by saying, 'Call In' then you throw in your Angel. That's about all there is to it. It's been a tradition for us Angelic Layer players ever since it was created." He gave a little laugh. He was there when the elder Suzuhara-san coined that term right when Angelic Layer was still in its testing stages.

"Uhh, I don't got any words to introduce my Angel, and since we've already fought two rounds, do I have to still do that?"

"No, its usually done when we first start the first round. I forgot to mention that earlier, but later rounds dont usually require a new call in introduction. Just saying 'Ranko, Call In' is good enough for the later rounds."

Ranma picked up Ranko from the floor where it had landed right by the chair. She gave a shrug, began concentrating some amount of her ki into Ranko, establishing the connection right away. She then said, "Alright. Ranko, Call In" and tossed her in. Even before it entered the Layer's threshold, she could feel the beginnings of the contact with Ranko. When it reached and passed through it, she was already adjusting for the transfer and a mere fraction of a second upon entering the layer, she was already tucking in for a few fancy somersaults and landed gracefully.

"Can you hear me?" Ranko looked up, then gave a thumbs up high in the air. She signed with her fingers at her eyes then pointed at her Angel self. She then pointed at her body, then made a criss-crossing motion with her hands. She smirked. She wanted all his attention on the fight, and not at the wonder at how she was doing this. She got into the traditional Saotome "I'm not ready at all" stance and waited for the machine to start the match.

"Round Three. Angelic...Fight!" Ding! And the fight was on once again.

AN: Wow, I had some fun with this episode. Finally we got some action! Yeah, although the first match was pretty much just a cheap shot, I figured Ojiro would have been too out of touch with the way Ranma could do that. Also, notice that he still doesn't know Ranma's new name. Yeah, I've chosen Seiko, as it just...well, seems to fit so many definitions of who Ranma-chan is like. I particularly like the 3rd and 4th definitions Pale Wolf gave. Again, thank you all for helping me out with finding good names and explaining what they mean. bows humbly

As always, continue with the reviews and so on. And I hope I wont take TOO long for the next chapter. Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm one of those somewhat lazy authors who find that reading fanfiction is a whole lot more fun. I've actually come up with a few other good Ranma fic ideas, but have yet to actually write them out on paper. One is a Ranma/AMG cross idea, and a couple of pure Ranma (as in, no crossing overs) continuations and alternaverses.

Thanks to Materia-Blade for letting me know to tone down the in-fic AN's. It took me to read through to notice that it seemed to really detract from the experience I had in mind when I was writing. My mind really likes to ramble when I write, and I hardly ever really come out with a set structure when I start. I may have said this before, but I tend to get fanfiction ideas mostly from like flashbulb ideas. Images. Single scenes. The whole idea of Third Layer basically really came from the image where Ranma tried out Angelic Layer for the first time, uses his/her ki (wasn't clearly set in at first) and transfers his conciousness directly into the Angel. That image of Ranma, in the Angel's body (which was definitely female from the start, at least), looking up at her own body, was what really set this idea in motion.

Anyways, heartfelt thanks to you all for reading this fic! Keep up with the reviewing, and I wouldn't mind it at all if a couple of you are fangirls.

As always, please leave a review!

CH7

Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 7 Ranko Fights Part 2

Ranko smirked her usual infuriatingly smug expression, the kind that screamed "I'm so much better than you that I don't even have to try" and got into her usual nonchalant and (seemingly) open to attack stance. Ojiro stared at the layer, intense concentration on his brow as he now knew that this may actually be a tougher challenge than usual. His mouth was twitching into a grin from time to time as he had Wizard circle around Ranko once more.

Ranko blurred. Wizard blurred. Lightning fast strikes echoed through the forest. In the trees. Whizzing around the trunks in seemingly circular patterns. Wizard was on the advantage, Ranko seemed to be getting hard pressed. Then she disappeared. What? Where? Below for a sweep? Above for a head strike? Ojiro couldnt find her even with his advantage of being able to see the whole battlefield. There, a streak of white and blue, zig-zagging around the trees. Wizard smirked and stood straight, taking the blow.

Ranko smirked. He was letting her get a free shot. Last time he'll make that mistake! They may be in the center of the field, but the Saotome School of Anything Goes was an expert at aerial combat. This included flight patterns of your own opponent and how one could throw their opponent into a more advantageous position. For example, an area with pits with very small foot holds (hence why Jusenkyo was a prime training ground, or so Genma thought at the time) would be a severe hindrance for, well, almost anyone who wasn't a Saotome (or an Amazon...or other super-high powered martial artist. And even then, it would still be quite tricky for those involved) because they were trained for superior balance and aerial combat ability. Fighting in midair, and launching opponents in midair for that advantage to be exploited was deeply trained. Even Tai-Chi fighters would find it hard to center themselves against being thrown by a Saotome. So being far away from the layer edge was not enough of an advantage for Wizard, and here he was, allowing himself to take a direct hit. What is Ojiro thinking?

As she came in for her launching kick, a sphere of inverted color flashed for a moment around him, and Ranko found herself being the one hurtled backwards. 'What? What just happened?' Squeals of delight around her brought her attention to outside the layer for a moment.

"That was Wizard's Magic Guard!"

"No one would be able to break that guard! It's the perfect defence!"

Oh? Great, more fans to watch the fight.

"Well Hikaru did it once."

"Yeah, but no one knows how she did that! Remember, she still had to hit it several times in order to break it. She wasn't all that powerful, so she didn't exactly break it. I've seen other fighters hit it even harder and more times, and it never broke!"

Aha, so that's it then. You gotta go in slow. That musta been it. Try to force your way through, and it would just resist all that much harder. Ranko smirked, silently thanking the fans cheering on Ojiro for the help to defeat him. She came at him quickly, but right at the edge of where she judged the shield to be, she slowed down impossibly slow. For her, at least. Slow enough to get through the shield. Not so fast for it to be considered an attack. Closer. Closer. WHAM! She found herself being flung backwards again, head over heels. She planted a hand into the ground, and flipped back onto her feet. Okay, so that was too fast then, was it? Alright then, slower than a big fat old non-martial artist can throw a punch. She approached again. However, it felt...wrong to go this slow. Her opponent would have a free shot at her going this slow. But, just to get through the shield. She tried it again, but just as she predicted, as she approached that slowly, Wizard dashed in for a lightning fast strike. Abandoning her slow attack for an equally fast defence, she parried the blow and slammed an open palm strike on Wizard's cheek. Aha, as long as he's not attacking, he can't use that defence. That musta hurt him!

"I'm impressed. Trying to come in slow to defeat my Magic Guard. But it is no use. Going slow only lets you open for attack. Not only that, but just try that again at that speed. I promise I won't retailiate." Ojiro commented.

Wizard got into that open standing pose again, and put out a hand in a "come on" gesture.

'Yeah right,' Ranko thought, 'Just invite me for attack, will you? Promise not to fight back, will you? We'll see about that!' She whirled around to Wizard's blind spot and came in again in that oh so slow approach. WHAM! It still hits? Dammit! How's she going to get through it? Maybe above? She leaped up high for a kick. WHAM! She did a double-footed kick from up high again. WHAM! This was getting annoying. She leaped up once more, up into a tree, and used it as a springboard to try attacking from directly above Wizard's head. Wham. Hmm, not as strong up here. She kept at it, finding a spot right at the top of the dome where she could continually just keep bouncing from. Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wizard looked straight up, and seemed to just see Ranko's feet bouncing a few feet (centimeters) from his head.

'What was this? Am I getting through?' Ranko thought. 'No, it's just not moving. What is this? Ain't ki. Can't sense it. Don't think they built this thing to handle true magic. Must be something exploited from the physics of the game. But what?' Ranko began wracking her brain to try to figure this out.

Ojiro grimaced. 'She's keeping me from attacking. I can't lower the guard without split second timing, and if I mess up, she'll get a hit straight in. That counterattack she made brought Wizard's health lower than hers, so if he didn't do something fast, she'll win from continually wearing me down. In a flash, as Ranko was falling down for another kick, still trying to figure a way through the shield, it disappeared and Wizard grabbed her leg. He used the speed of her fall to swing her onto her back. WHAM! A shocked expression on Ranko's face was there for an instant, then she was rolling onto her back, somehow redirecting the last bit of the shock.

'Didn't think he would stoop to THAT! That was a good shot. I was still thinking of a way to get through it, then he just unexpectedly drops it. This is a great fight.' Ranko thought to herself, the grin on her face once again. She stood up and got into a proper stance and was about to attack once more when she found herself once again hurtling through the air. 'No way! Ain't gonna happen again!' Wizard was trying that knock out of the ring move again, but this time, she was prepared. She untwirled one of those cords wrapped around her arm andflung it into a branch in a split second move. The end stuck into the wood and she used it to swing up and over top of Wizard. The move was so fast and unexpected that Wizard seemed to only be able to gawk at the bottom of Ranko's shoes before she hit.

Landing in a sort of crouch on Wizard's shoulders, Ranko tightened her hold on his head with her legs and flung her body backwards as hard as she could, flipping the both of them backwards. She loosed her hold for a split second during the backflip and adjusted her position relative to his body so that she would land with her knees on his abdomen just as he landed on his back. WHAM! Or at least, she tried to. Wizard somehow thrust both hands forward and pushed her backwards into the ground milliseconds before he did. This Ojiro kid had great fighting instincts. No wonder everyone admired him. He too was a martial arts prodigy, in the mental capacity at least. Plus, he had that weird shield thingy. And, when it's ineffective, he knows when to drop it to cause the most surprise.

There were murmurs through the crowd. Speculation began running rampant about who the new girl was. No one recognised her, but everyone acknowledged her martial arts prowess against a her moment of confusion about what just happened, she suddenly felt hand grab her wrist once again. 'Damn! That move stunned me. My body isn't reacting as quickly as it should.' She felt the pain, but it wasn't as intense as it should have been. But it still felt like she couldn't move as effectively as if sheWERE in intense pain. Part of the programming, probably. Of course, feeling pain shouldn't be possible at all, or something. It should have just been a bunch of sensors or something. Another oddity about her ki transfer thingy. She felt herself being lifted by her arm and was again swung out from the layer. 'This guy...he likes doing this, don't he?' she thought for the split second while still in Ranko...

Author's notes

Very sorry for this extremely short update. I know this is a short chapter. I just wanted to finish the fight, and I'm still thinkin of what's gonna happen right after, so there WILL be more of this chapter to be posted later. Please stay tuned!

Oh yeah, and as for chapter 2, I've fixed that up and added titles to each of the other chapters. Most of them are kinda corny, cause I just made them up on the spot.

And, I'm sure you can guess where I got the idea for getting through the shield, right?

Update: Oh crap! Thanks for that notice there, Obsidian-Fox. I totally forgot about that. I spent some time rewatching the entire Angelic Layer series, for research purposes of course, and I guess I kinda got some of those concepts direct from the series stuck in my head and not the details of the fight at hand. Thank you very much for that little minder. I've fixed that up now, but it was a bit tricky cause I had to continue the fight just a little bit longer.

So anyway, in that addition, you may also figure out where I got that backflip grapple move.

Minor update: This is right before the chapter 8 update. Found another minor error with the time out thing. Don't worry, Chapter 8 is on the way!

As always, please leave a review!

CH8

Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Update: I have rewritten a major portion somewhere in the middle of the chapter, details explained in the AN at the bottom.

Third Layer

Chapter 8

My name?

Ranma opened her eyes and gave a little sigh. She'd lost on her chance to redeem herself. Eh, it had to happen sometime. This wasn't exactly martial arts. Considering how things were, she was still too new at this. Angelic Layer had different rules about how things went. There were constraints, limitations, rules. That meant that she had to learn them and adjust herself to better handle these new experiences and learn from them. Okay, first thing. Don't get thrown off the layer. That's pretty normal, considering some of her fights had that same rule. The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge came to mind. Of course, Kodachi got around that rule in a couple of cases, but Ranma handled that pretty well.

Another rule, there is some kind of energy or something that can be exploited on the layer that allows for the angels to do things that normal humans cant...well, not without extreme training. Jumping a relative 30 foot height (to the Angel, at least) can be done by just about anyone playing Angelic Layer. There was also that field that Wizard generated, and Ranma heard some small snippets from the people around about how some of the other Angels fought in older tournaments and so on. An unbreakable field, a light-wave bicycle kick that dealt tremendous damage, pressure waves that moved just by moving the arms in a certain way. That last one sounded very similar to the Yamasenken's vacuum blades, albeit a lot powered down. They never sliced through anything. Lightning whips, a greenish force orb that had only been done by Athena. The whole environmental stage thing. Somehow the layers altered the reality within its field of influence for the Angels that they could create things with light (or whatever that was) that would react solidly to the dolls' presence. She felt it herself. Sometimes, when she concentrated, she felt like she could jump so many more times her height. BUT! That was without using her own martial arts knowledge and strengths to jump higher. On the layer, whatever it was it felt a little like ki at times, and yet at the same time it wasn't.

People were competing not to truely protect someone, but to have fun. That was another thing that was out of the whole martial arts deal. You couldn't have your martial arts ability to protect someone or yourself, especially with a six inch doll. And ESPECIALLY since you need the layer to make it move. This was all for fun, competition, maybe the occasional grudge where your ability on the layer mattered, but those were somewhat out of place. This was...a hobby sport.

Ranma was sitting there staring at her doll, lost in thought as she was trying to figure out how all of those things worked together in a way that she could see the "big picture". Ojiro thought she was sulking at the fact that she had lost, or something. There were a couple of those types that felt that they could show up a runner up in the great tournament or felt they were at least better than a certain person, only to be put down hard, and were always disappointed with themselves or their Angel. Some even blamed their Angel, thinking that it wasn't good enough and they would make another. He pitied those who thought that way, and hoped this girl wasn't like that. She seemed much more level headed. She was good on the layer, no doubt. She was also pretty good in martial arts on her own, but he couldn't judge all of that just from the small amount of movement he'd seen when he first met her. At least she wasn't crying. Well, she just had that blank look of being in deep thought. Just staring at her angel. Maybe reviewng the fight mentally? Chiding herself for overestimating herself? He didn't know, but he gently took off his visor and went over to her side.

"Thank you for the match," he said softly while bowing deeply at the waist. Some of the girls around swooned.

Ranma looked up, broken out of her thoughts slightly, and grinned. "Ya, thanks too. Next time I fight ya, I'll be sure to take you down properly." She looked over at the now empty and blank layer, her face thoughtful, "I'm still just too new at this, and I need to learn how everything works. Things in there feel a bit different than things out here, yanno? The only way I'll be able to figure what they are, I'll need to...play, right?" Ranma had to struggle to find that word. It was something he hardly ever really did. Everything was martial arts or not. He was always putting every effort into his martial arts that while growing up, he never really did play. Her face fell slightly while thinking about this, and Ojiro noticed.

"I'm sure you'll get better. Everyone has their learning curve, and some just need to figure what their limits are."

"Eh, I'm the best. I only really lose once, but I always win when it matters...like the second time. Take that as my challenge for an eventual rematch." she said with a wink.

She looked back at the layer, the white glow at a low standby, the threshold barrier dimmed. There was a problem with Angelic Layer that she felt was slightly off. There were limits to Angelic Layer. At least, she felt that there were. When she took a hit, the programming or whatever made her feel slower. Perhaps it was to realistically copy human movements and thresholds. However, human thresholds could be temporarily surpassed and trained to be increased. When set, the Angels couldn't...grow. Training did nothing to the Angels themselves except for maybe increase the link between the user and the Angel. It was all to the Deus's mental ability. At least compared to martial arts where it was both mental and physical. With Ranma, it was a different matter, anyway, but she still felt the effects of the constraints the Angels had from the beginning. Oh well, but that was what made Angelic Layer...well...Angelic Layer. Sure Ranma 'played' differently from everyone else, but the fact that everyone was still playing, of course there would be rules.

Ojiro became concerned again when the girl became quiet for so long again, but decided to let her be. Maybe she was thinking about something that was deeper than he was meant to know. Of course, he was right, but his next thought put it on the secondary burner. Maybe she had a bad time at home and didn't want to deal with that, but she was going to have to go soon. Of course he was still right, but that wasn't what Ranma was thinking at the time. That would come later.

"Ano, would you like me to walk you home?" Ojiro said after a time. The mall was close to closing, and the crowd had already dispersed. There were just the few people hanging around doing a few last minute fights and shopping.

Ranma looked up, brushing aside those last few thoughts and smiled. "No thanks, it's a long way. I'll be fine. I was just doing some thinking. And a lotta people would tell you that that was impossible for me." She gave a smile, "Let's just keep that a secret, ne?"

"Something to do with that Nabiki friend of your's?"

"Something like that."

"Uhh...if you don't mind, may I know your name?" Ojiro asked kindly.

"Huh? Oh, uhh..." Think, think, think, think, think, think, think, think! Ranma's mind twirled through dozens of names, sorting through them. The first names that came to mind, unfortunately, were the names of her fiancees. Shampoo, Ukyo, Akane, Ryouga (where'd that one come from?). Those were discarded as quickly. Then she began thinking of various manga characters. Usagi, Hotaru, Mokoto, Rei, Goku. Huh? Bleh, next series. Eiko, Biko, Siko. Sheesh, better find a better line of manga's next time he went to the bookstore. Lina, Amelia, Filia. Now that was a series worth reading. Ayeka, Ryouko, Sasami. Another good series, but..No, no, no. Those are all just...wrong. She wished she had more of an opportunity to read more of Akane's manga collection, but she'd be mad when she found out. Or something. None of them just fit right. It had to be a name that meant...well...something for her. Dammit, Nabiki was supposed to help her with this. No, that's not right either. She'll figure out something on her own. She can deal with this. No problem. Now, lets just think of a name that would suit her best. She began running through a series of names that would fit well with Ran. Her choices were limited at best, so she began with words and concepts that would work. 'Sei'. Spirit, gender, stature. Well, the first two seemed to fit in well. Now for a suffix. 'Ko'. Child. Duh. She uses it for her alter ego whenever her mom was around, and is using it right now for her Angel. Somehow, it just seemed to fit right there.

"...Seiko" Ranma finally blurted out. All of that thinking was compressed into the space of about 5 seconds, but it did seem to take a long time for someone who supposedly knew their name. Ojiro caught this, but decided not to comment on that. Perhaps there was a reason she was giving a false name. Well, he'll find out if she ever came to the tournament.

"Well, perhaps we will meet again...Seiko. And perhaps you shall keep your promise about beating me next time." He gave a wink. "There is a tournament that is starting shortly, perhaps you would be interested. I hear there is a nice prize for whoever wins it."

Ranma gave a small start. Well, wouldn't that beat all? A cash prize is just something that she could use to pay off Nabiki's debt. She gave a confident smirk. "You betcha I'm gonna win that! And I'll be sure to beat you in the meantime."

Ranma came home tiredly.

She had had to run to catch the last subway train of the day, but unfortunately, it was already leaving the station she was at. She had to run out of the station and tried to head it off at the next station. She had to repeat this about 3 times because her first attempt was slowed by the darned ticket machine that was malfunctioning, the second try was foiled by a mugging attempt on some poor girl in an alley on the way, and the third was because she had just taken too long double-checking the second station in case she may have still gotten there on time. When she finally got on the train, her rest was disturbed when she found out it was only one more station to go before her stop. The metal bars next to the subway door had a new slight head-shaped dent. When she got off, she found the last bus for the day were already gone, so she had to walk. Normally, it would have been a piece of cake to simply roof-hop on home, but after chasing down a subway train for 4 stops going at full speed was just a little too taxing for her.

She stopped off by an all night bar for some hot water, taking no heed of the poor saps who were trying to hit on her, and perhaps shoving a bit harder than she usually did on the ones who were hitting on her a bit too persistently. Of course, she didn't hit them too hard, simply because they were drunk and she knew that they sometimes didn't have full control over their actions.

After leaving, and changing back to male, he found that he really should have changed clothes back to his normal attire, and quickly found a park to change back to a form that wasnt so constricting on his chest. That fountain would do perfectly. Now that she could at least take off the T-Shirt now, she could proceed to change into her normal red silk shirt and black kung-fu pants. She rebraided her hair back into its usual pigtail, and then went back to another hopefully less occupied bar for some more hot water.

So now he was here, shoulders slumped forward in exhaustion, in front of the Tendo gates. He took the last of his stamina and jumped over. He set his backpack in a dark corner of the grounds. Feh, the ground here looks comfy. He fell forwards on the porch onto his face and began peacefully sleeping.

SPLASH! "ARGH!" Ranma, once again, was unpleasantly woken with a handy bucket.

He twisted about on his back on the hard wooden surface of the porch, disoriented. His bleary eyes focussed on the form holding the bucket. "Huh?" He said coherently.

"Wakey, wakey, Saotome. Now, weren't we supposed to discuss something?"

"Huh?" Ranma said again, focusing on his fiancee. No wait...didn't his fiancee have a slightly different voice? And since when did she cut her hair in a bowl shape? He squinted, leaning forward a little. The face of one Nabiki Tendo finally came into view. "Aagh!" He scrambled backwards on his back. Just great, the first thing he sees this morning is the one who is responsible for emptying his wallet on a regular basis, and that ain't the bad thing. The bad thing is that she is the one who woke him up, and that she is sayin something about "discussing something" with him. What did he do to bring her full attention on him? He tried to think of what he did yesterday, and yet it was still all a blank. Did he beat Kuno too quickly? Did he accidentally do something with one of his other fiancees that may have set Akane off again? What? He just couldn't think.

"Aww, is that how it is? You so afraid of me when we discussed that tournament you were going to win for me?"

Tournament? What tournament? Slowly, the gears that had been overworked last night finally began moving once again. Oh, that tournament. Ranma slowly got to his feet, swaying gently, still off balance. Oh, yeah, and he had to run halfway across Central Tokyo to get to the subway. That's why he still felt so tired. Shaking his head, he focused on Nabiki again. Tried to, anyway.

"You stay up too late last night, Saotome?"

Ranma moved his tongue, trying to figure out what had crawled into his mouth, and to remove its nasty presence. "Uhh, yeah. Couldn't find the right bar to go into."

"A bar?" he could hear Nabiki's raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, there were so many of those rude guys who were hitting on me."

"Guys hitting on you?"

"Yeah, I was a girl at the time. Well, the second bar was a bit nicer, at least..."

"WHAT?" Hmm, that didn't sound like the teasing voice of Nabiki. "You PERVERT! And WHY were you a girl going around some BARS late at night? I'll bet you were EXPERIMENTING the whole time after school, weren't you? RANMA NO BAKA!" WHAM!

Now that he was sailing into the air, he finally brought up the mental picture of the one who could fling him up into the air like that. Eww! He shuddered. No, that's not right, the old ghoul wouldn't shout that old catch phrase. Who was it again? An image of a pig with a yellow and black bandanna around its neck. Pork-butt? No, his catch phrase is "Ranma! Prepare to die!" An image of a mallet. Well, that's part of it...now. Move the picture a bit higher. That's it. Uncute tomboy. A faint dinging sound from 'The Price is Right' rang through his head. Oh yeah. Her.

WHAM! Oh yeah. Landing. Loud shout, plus feeling of weightlessness equals being hit into the air. That, plus time equals eventual landing. Forgot about that one.

Ranma slowly crawled up from the crater he made in the yard, shaking bits of dirt and rock out of his hair, and made a loose bee-line back to the porch. Well, it may have looked like a bee-line...maybe to Ryouga. Ranma still wasn't quite with it this early in the morning. Or was it morning? Something seemed to remind him that Nabiki wasn't an early morning person.

"Well, now that my sister's gone back to the dojo to let off some steam for a while, let's have that discussion. I presume you weren't going to those bars to drink, but rather to get some hot water, right?" A slow nod from Ranma. "Right. So anyway, I was doing some research last night and I think I may have a few names for you-know-who when you go to do you-know-what. Dratted Harry Potter books. Anyway, I think the name Lina Inverse would fit perfectly for you. What do you say?"

"Seiko" Ranma mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Seiko" Ranma mumbled a little louder, and a bit more clearly. "That Ojiro guy asked me for my name. I made that one up. Already thought about Lina, but decided against it." He gave a big yawn. "Seiko...Inverse. That doesn't sound too bad." He once again attempted to focus his eyes on the bowl-cut haired girl in front of him.

Nabiki stared incredulously at him for a moment, then began chuckling. "Oh I see...Yes, gender girl inverse. Ha ha ha. Good one Saotome. Didn't think you'd come up with a joke like that." She clapped him on the shoulders in her mirth.

He was finally beginning to wake up. He turned and went into the house. "Gotta wash up. Talk to you later." He began his zombie-walk down the hall towards the bathroom.

Breakfast. Mad dash to school. Get splashed by ladle-lady. Watch Akane beat up on the Hentai Horde. Get to class late cause of Kuno-baka. Hot water. Morning classes. Lunch. Random martial arts challenge. Avoid Akane's lunch. Finish lunch. Afternoon classes. Get drained by Hinako-sensei for sleeping.

Somehow Ranma made it through another school day. Maybe today he'd be able to get away from the Fiancee Brigade, and get to practice Angelic Layer some more. However, that seemed a bit unlikely as an extremely suspicious Akane was tailing him with an upset look on her face. Geez, she's so uncute like that. It's been nearly a week since his battle against that Ojiro kid, and he still wanted to fight him again. Well, he did mention a tournament, and it seemed that he was entering it himself. Shampoo was showing up a bit more than expected, but he'd managed to thwart any potion plans that she and the old ghoul may have had for him. Things slowed down a bit since yesterday. It probably was just a small push to try and drag him to China for a bit while things were going a bit slower than usual. It basically made up for the slowness, and had run its course. So maybe he'd be able to avoid them for the next few days...this type of thing had come along in cycles enough that it was getting slightly predictable.

Now, how to ditch the tomboy? Can't use any of his usual excuses. Most of them usually got her really mad or something. Why can't he stop off at Ucchan's? He was only going there to eat with his buddy.

Other excuses involve her getting mad at him for something that he still didn't understand exactly. Like that night when he went shopping for his Angel that first time, when he got back, she had whacked him one for no good reason. He was even telling the truth that time! Saying that he had a challenge with Ryouga usually got her to whack him for picking on the poor sap. Saying that he had another random martial arts challenge and that he'd need to train was out cause everyone would want to know who it was so Nabiki could start the betting pools. Plus, his skill level was so high that the run-of-the-mill challenge doesn't justify going out to train. Unless it was with someone as skilled as Ryouga or Herb or someone like that. And then EVERYBODY would want to watch. If he set up a challenge at that level or something, he really WOULD have to go train, else he'd be behind when he showed up.

Well, actually all of those reasons were provided by Nabiki when they had discussions about how he could get away from everybody. All of his ideas were shot down by Nabiki in those exact same manner. Of course, she never provided any ideas herself, and he couldn't fathom why she couldn't help him out. Well, he'll just keep on coming up with new ideas until there was one that Nabiki couldn't shoot down. In the meantime it was either go without practice, or risk the wrath of the Mallet.

He kept on thinking, but he just couldn't come up with any solid plans. His patience was beginning to run low, and finally he just stopped. Well, perhaps the telephone pole in his way may have helped.

"Dammit! Forget that!" he muttered under his breath, rubbing his sore forehead. "Hey, Akane. I'm gonna be home late again. No, I am not going to Uchhan's. No, I'm not going to the Nekohanten. NO, I do NOT want you to follow me. I have my reasons, and I'm bored. Later!" With that, he hopped up to the roof of a nearby house and was just running along its length when he got struck from behind by a perfectly aimed mallet. The blow knocked him off his perch, and he fell over on the other side. Into a small inflatable children's pool. Well, she's mad. She'll probably be mad for a while now. Aww, dangit! Why'd she HAVE to say that? Ahh, well. May as well get going. Maybe she could find a cheap hotel or something to spend a couple of nights. Tomorrow was Sunday, so there wouldn't be any class. Also, it'd keep her out of Akane's way for a while. Nabiki had generously allowed Ranma to earn a small amount from their nightly photo shoots this past week. So now Ranma had enough to SPEND a couple nights away from home.

What was WITH Nabiki these past few days anyway? When he last checked his debt, it seemed like half of it was removed for some odd reason. At least, that's what he thought he'd remembered. Maybe he was just imagining things. Of course, maybe he was paying off more of the debt faster than usual because he was now actively participating in Nabiki's photo-shoots. She still refused the undergarments, and DEFINITELY nothing less than that. But there were things that were still quite...skimpy. Borderlining on what is classified as undergarments and what is outer-wear. Swimsuits, she could handle, as long as they were generally one-piece. Or, if they were more than one piece, cover more than...than...those...things that were basically made of string. Definitely needed to be more than that. In those photo shoots, Nabiki would have Ranma go into all those weird poses, and scrunch up her face in really weird ways. If only she knew how quickly those sexy poses could get raging male hormones to flare. But still, it was cutting out the debt and adding to her own pocket money. And being that for this past week she hadn't been able to sneak out, her wallet was actually getting bigger.

She hummed a merry tune as she got out of the little pool, and heard Akane stomping off towards the Tendo household. Oh well, may as well try to get there as quickly as possible, so then she could practice as much as possible. And perhaps get as much fun as possible...

AN: UPDATE Yeah, I rewrote this chapter, cause I thought most of those mental revelations that Ranma had came about just a bit too quickly, so I decided to scrap it and rewrite that part. Well, it was more like cutting it out. Thus with that much content being removed, I have decided I may as well go along with what the fans have requested and make the chapter longer and more episodic. I hope. Hey, forgive me! This fanfic writing stuff is pretty new to me, yanno? Sure, I've read tons and TONS of fanficiton. But that, a good writer does not make.

Anyway, the reason I rewrote the scene was because a friend pointed out that those revelations that Ranma had was way too OOC. I had written the chapter in a weird mood. I was like thinking about all sorts of philosophical stuff from class about how humans have infinite potential to do just about anything, and somehow that mind-set got written into the fic. Now that I've re-read the chapter, I had to agree that it sounded just too...bleh. Anyway, I now had to think of lots of extra stuff to add to the chapter to make it more...stuff, you know? Sorry if it sounds a little bleh cause I had to make up a lot of the content on the spot, and I still have writer's block. I have a couple of small ideas for the future, but they are far in the future, and far in between timewise for the various ideas. Please bear with me when I say that I HOPE to write more often, but that I may not be ABLE to write more often. Particularly when I have this dastardly writer's block.

Old AN: Another chapter finished. Well, this one pretty much covered a lot of stuff about how Ranma usually does things and how he is planning on doing things from then on. I really dunno where that last scene came from from the point where he was going home. It all just kinda started up from there. I had only planned on Ranma and Nabiki discussing the name that Ranma had already decided on the day before, but somehow turning him into a sleepy zombie just kinda came through instead.

Anyway, once again, thanks for all of your support. Every one of you. I am still at awe as to getting over a hundred reviews when there are so many other great fics I've found out there that are getting only 20 or even less. It's sometimes boggling to see this many reviews for only 7 chapters that I've written. And sometimes I consider myself to not be that great of a writer. But you're all there to prove me wrong, right? So, thanks y'all!

Eyes dart around, in expectation for Mysticalflame for wherever he/she may jump out at him and puts on a football helmet

Oh yeah, TheWhiteMonk is absolutely right. The shield idea that I had that Ranko was trying to exploit (but wasn't right) was based on the shields that Frank Herbert used in the first Dune book.

Sorry Phht, but I haven't even seen those, ahh, "goa'uld force fields from Stargate SG-1." as you put it. I was thinking about something else. Besides, Ranko didn't make it through because Wizard's shield reacts differently from the way the Dune-type shields and those Stargate shields work.

As always, please leave a review!

CH9

Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 9

Registration

After having gotten rid of Akane, albeit in a manner she would preferred not to have done considering the consequences, Ranma was again in front of the Piffle Princess. Nabiki made a deal with him earlier that her flunkies wouldn't be on the prowl for either of Ranma's forms, but that didn't mean he didn't have to be cautious. There was always the Amazon looking to have a date with him. There was always a cute fiancee who would love nothing more than to learn more of Ranma-honey's hobbies and to try to convince him to acknowledge that she was the best choice for a wife. There was always the insane gymnast out to fill his face with paralysis powder and whisk him away to some forgotten alley (or worse, the Kuno Mansion) and jump his bones. Or worse yet, try to kill her for stealing her Darling. There was always the lost boy, who would inevitably jump to some conclusion that Ranma was again being unfaithful to Akane or that he was responsible for whatever hell Ryouga himself got into without any help. There was always some delusional Kendoist that would basically do the exact thing his sister would do, depending on the circumstances. There was an old letcher that would love to find Ranma voluntarily choosing to be in his female form. There was the blind duck...although he may not quite count, if his vanity got ahold again and his glasses are sitting on top of his head instead of in front of his eyes. There was the violent tomboy, if she decided that she would try to figure out what Ranma was up to. And the worst possibilities...the two scheming fathers, who would immediately put a stop to anything Ranma would want to do for himself that was not strictly Martial Arts.

Well, he didn't quite know how Mr. Tendo would react, if he found out on his own. But if he was with his father, or mentioned it to his father, then his spine would turn to jelly and do just about anything Genma would suggest. It was a long-shot, but if Soun found out and wasn't in the presence of his father, then there was a chance Ranma could convince him to not mention anything.

So, to make a long story short, Ranma was careful not to let anyone notice his (or rather, her) abrupt departure from the Nerima district after leaving Akane in a huff. Nothing fancy, like riding trains or roof-hopping. No clothes that usually marked his trademark sense of style. Indeed, the usual macho Anything Goes Martial Artist Ranma Saotome wouldn't be caught dead wearing what he was wearing now. Make that "she". A light blue blouse, a pair of feminine-cut trousers, a wide-brimmed straw hat, and a thick book. Nabiki tried to get Ranma to wear a knee-length skirt, but that was almost crossing the border for her. Deep inside, Ranma would never wish to spend anymore time in a skirt than absolutely possible. Sure she would wear them from time to time, but they were always disguises. And she knew that eventually she would be found out for the deception, usually because Ranma was never really trying to stay hidden for a prolonged amount of time. Even posing as Ryouga's sister was all an eventual ploy to poke fun at Ryouga's obtuseness and start a fight later on, when he would finally figure it out. And this time was certainly different, since Ranma made sure that no one, not even Nabiki, would figure out who she was as she milled about among the crowd. Nabiki had helped, but Ranma spent part of the school's period mentally rehearsing a persona that he would use when trying to escape.

That meant the clothes had to match the personality. And it had to be a personality that no one would suspect of Ranma. Again, it was somewhat close to the disguise Ranma had used on some of the previous trips to the mall. But wearing the more feminine clothes, having a book that she held to her stomach with both hands as she walked, with her head bowed, and (seeming to) not paying direct attention to what was in front of her, all screamed this was anything BUT Ranma Saotome. Another martial arts attack: the newly created Notice-Me-Not, I'm-Just-A-Girl Technique. Quite powerful, and a perfect success rate. At least, that's what Ranma would have liked to think. But then again, it is only the first time she was using it after making it up on the spot. She'd have to write this technique out on a scroll using the Saotome-Style Martial Arts Calligraphy (ie. unintelligble to all except the original author) but for now, she'd have to make do with what she'd learned as of right now.

Before getting on the train after changing into her clothes and donning her new personality, she purposely walked into a few other people (while walking straight, letting them walk into her rather than turning into anyone...don't want people to notice THAT, after all) and profusely apologizing like a shy school-girl just out of class would. The couple of blocks she walked to the train station, she kept the technique up. Even after getting off the train, she kept the charade up. It was only after nearing the Piffle Princess shopping center did she start to relax the technique, and started to walk with a more confident stride, the book at her side. Anyone who may have been watching may have simply contributed it to getting excited for going towards a well known shopping center that mostly seemed to target girls.

Deciding it would be best to register for the tournament, Ranma went to the counters for registration.

"Hello, how may I help you?" asked the lady behind the counter whose name was, ironically, Lina.

"Umm...yeah I would like to register for the tournament for Angelic Layer?" Ranma responded hesitantly.

"Of course, if you would please fill these forms for me?" she handed a stack of papers and a pencil to Ranma.

"Aww! This much work just to register?"

"I'm afraid so, but look at the bright side, some of that work will set up an account for us to put in vouchers, prizes, and such when you play. There will be prizes for hitting certain benchmarks such as winning a certain number of times, having a good win/loss ratio after a set number of matches, and so on. We also like to give little prizes such as extra time on the layer for every 10 hours you purchase. Think of it like a membership into a club. The more you play, the more rewards." she leaned forward into a conspiratorial whisper, "and you rack up a lot of brownie points for playing at your Angel's presets."

"Why's that?" Ranma asked as she finished filling in the first form about Ranko and the various serial numbers and started the next.

"Because you would learn best how to play to your Angel's greatest strengths. What a lot of players don't realize is that the Angel is just like a character in a game. When they get bored with the one character they usually just set up a new Angel. A real shame because the best players out there have fought with their first Angel and they are continually learning new things from them. Some people even think that somehow the Angels themselves are growing and learning. Ever since the last tournament in the finals between the Suzuharas, everyone thought that only Athena had the wings, but when Misaki and Hikaru finally got back up, after supposedly losing, and fought again, she too sprouted her own wings. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" Lina clasped her hands together in rapture with sparkles coming out of her eyes in rememberance of that terrific fight.

"Ranma's mind was churning with this news, and had a hard time concentrating on filling the next form which was new her personal information and finaly snapped out of it when she saw that instead of asking for her real name, it simply asked for a name by which she wished to be announced as. She blinked and looked down the rest of the page. Things such as assress and other personal information were oddly absent. She quickly flipped through some of the remaining forms and they all din't press her for any actual information of she didn't wish for it.

"Umm, this is kinda weird, but if we're gonna get prizes and such, why isn't all this askin for our real names and such?"

Lina broke out of her reverie at the question, "Oh! That is because sometimes certain famous people who wish to play Angelic Layer don't want any great publicity when they play, so our system allows for such occasions. Also, sometimes we get some very shy people who for lack of a better term, 'transform' when they get serious on the Layer. So in the big tournaments, they want others to think that they are different people form when they are out in public. Does that make any sense?"

Ranma gave a slow nod and guessed it did make an obscure kind of sense. She finished off the rest of the forms quickly and turned them in.

"And may I see your Angel for a moment? I need her for the final registration," Ranma complied.

Typing in some of the information and placing Ranko on the pedestal where she started doing the antigravity trick again, Lina pulled up her Layer records. Her eyebrows rise up into her bangs when she saw that her first and only battle was against the renown Wizard and his Deus, Mihara Oujiro. And she even won the first round in a best 2 out of 3 exhibition match. Oujiro-kun had a tendecy to help new players learn how to play, so he might have let her attack him to show how helth was brought down from attacks. He usually spent time teaching them how to dance and demonstrate the various ways to defeat the opponent. And he usually did so for those people who show great potential on the Layer. She added a "to watch" flag to Ranko's profile, a simple indicator flag just like all the other potentials in the system. If Oujiro trained her to dance and fight, there may be potential for Seiko here to make a small name for herself in the near future. While placing the finishing touches to the account, Lina looked up to see Seiko leaning over the counter to look at her screen, trying to see what she was doing. "Sorry, but she's all finished now." The upper ring lowered taking the liquid light with it, and the ngel fell backwards into Seiko's waiting hands.

"She's all finished but you aren't" Lina stated quickly before Seiko turned away from the counter. "It will take about an hour for your Angelic Card to finish printing, so please stay around."

Ranma nodded and started heading towards the group of Layer tables when Lina stopped her again.

"If you are heading to practice, here's a little extra gift for registering." She handed over a card with '1 Hour' printed on it with a bar code underneath.

Ranma grinned and thanked her, before heading towards the tables again with a lighter step.

Old AN: Sorry for such a long time between updates (I think it's been about a year and a half now, probably more) and the fact that this chapter is so short. I've been really busy with classes and summer school and now I have a full time job to pay for rent and bills and such...aww alright, enough excuses. But seriously, I do apologize that it has been so long since I've last updated and even with this minor update here that will barely whet your appetite for my fic (yeah right, like any of you all really like this fic) and I hope to get back into the mood to write more. Muse for ideas was mostly in absentia for most of the time anyway. But in the meantime, I HAVE enjoyed quite a lot of the various fics that are still popping up here on this site. Check my C2 sometime, perhaps you'll find something that you may enjoy yourself!

Anyway, yeah, I know it's only about half the size of the other chapters, and I just couldn't think of anything. I just wanted to post this right now so you all know I'm not dead nor have I given up on this fic.

12/10/07 UPDATE!

Yes, I know, it's mostly the same and there isn't a whole lot different on the whole. I do plan to write some more for this chapter, but I am finding it rather difficult to get good inspiration for my fic. And I haven't really had a whole lot of good time on the computer. As noted by one reviewer, I realized that this entire chapter had, originally, had exactly zero lines of dialogue. Also, I figured I should flesh out how the Angelic Layer universe worked, as I understand it. At least for the normal player point of view. Since in the series, all we fould out about registration was "Icchan" pulled his status and got Misaki her card for her. For the normal player, I figured that there would be forms to fill out, but I wanted it for Ranma to have some annonymity so the NWC won't find out too early. To be sure, they will...eventually, but I hope to develop Ranma's character such that he...she...whatever, will have developed to be a independant person free from anyone's direct influences and whatnot. Well, free from the ol Panda at the very least.

CH10

SORRY!

Okay everyone, I really have to apologize for not even touching this story for about 3 years, but I just don't seem to have a muse that is capable of writing fanfiction. I've thrown my hand into the fanfiction community and tried to write my ideas of certain scenes into a story. But after those flashbulb scenes have been written, I just can't seem to think of anything else to write about it. I only had a very vague and general idea about the far future of this story, but the journey from point A to point B seem to be at a roadblock the size of Jupiter. And I'm just trying to cross the street here! Come on!

Anyway, I hereby abandon my attempts at writing this fanfiction and open it up to anyone who would wish to continue writing for this story. All I ask is for you to acknowledge that these first 9 chapters were written by me, and that you send me a link to your continuance! I appreciate it.

It's been a fun journey, but like I said. When I started writing this story, I only really got the idea to this story from a vague dream where Ranma was playing Angelic Layer, and while trying it out the first time she got sucked into the Angel herself. The scene where she turns around and starts looking up and up and up to see herself was the entire point of this story.

It was an awesome inspiration, and I started frantically looking for a unique way for Ranma to get into Angelic Layer simply to write that scene. After that, I ran out of steam really quickly. I began looking into other genres to help me write more, but it was far too late and my muse had left for Callisto. Dang Jupiter.

I do have a couple ideas for way, waay, WAAAY into the future, but it's a vague plot point and not really a scene. If you have decided to take up the story, just let me know if you want to know this plot point and I'll discuss it with you.

So again, I abandon this story, and open it for any inspired authors to continue it on my behalf. I'm very sorry I could not continue writing it.

**Piemur1**


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